Russia, India Begin INDRA Joint Naval Drills In Bengal Bay On Friday

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th September, 2020) The biannual Russian-Indian naval exercise INDRA is scheduled to begin on Friday in the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean.

The exercise is scheduled to run until Saturday.

During this time, the participating Russian and Indian servicemen are expected to train their interoperability in responding to emerging security challenges on the sea. This will include a series of disciplines, including surface and aerial gun fire and location tracking.

Russia is expected to send its Admiral Vinogradov and Admiral Tributs destroyers and the Boris Butoma tanker along with a fleet of helicopters, while India is expected to send the Ranvijay destroyer, Sahyadri frigate, Kiltan corvette and Shakti tanker.

The INDRA drills have been held regularly since 2003. The summer 2020 edition was originally supposed to be held in Russia's Far Eastern city of Vladivostok, but ended up postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.