The maritime component of the exercise, to be conducted off the “west coast of India”, is scheduled to be held in two phases. They also did a “non-provocative deployment” in South China Sea. Military of the UK engaged with their counterparts in Singapore and Bangladesh.
The Army exercise “Ajeya Warrior” between India and UK, is ongoing in Uttarakhand in which about 120 British soldiers are participating. The UK has an integrated electrical propulsion technology which it hopes to sell for future ships in the Indian Navy. The UK’s foreign secretary Elizabeth Truss will be in Mumbai for senior level discussions on a range of topics, including maritime propulsion technology, which the UK is keen to sell to the Indian Navy. It will stay at anchorage and some invited guests will be taken on board. One of the ships of the CSG will dock in to the Mumbai port. The deployment of CSG is significant for the UK as it is the biggest deployment after the end of Cold War. The CSG, along with HMS Queen Elizabeth, has been on deployment in the Indo-Pacific waters for all summer. In the exercise, there will be re-entry of UK’s Carrier Strike Group (CSG) into western Indian Ocean waters.
The UK Carrier strike group reached the Western Coast to participate in a week long maiden India-UK Joint Tri-Service Exercise “Konkan Shakti” on Thursday, indicating that India-UK ties will gear up for a phase of high profile engagements.