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The United Kingdom’s Carrier Strike Group (CSG), led by craft bearer HMS Prince of Wales, connected Sunday commenced Exercise Konkan with the Indian Navy successful the Western Indian Ocean.
The four-day maritime drill aims to heighten combined maritime and aerial capabilities betwixt the 2 navies. First held successful 2004, Exercise Konkan has traditionally been a biennial engagement. This edition, however, marks the first-ever workout involving the CSG of some nations - the U.K.’s HMS Prince of Wales and India’s INS Vikrant.
The U.K. CSG, presently connected an eight-month planetary deployment dubbed Operation Highmast, has linked up with the Indian Navy’s bearer task unit for analyzable multi-domain operations, including anti-submarine warfare, cross-deck flying operations, and aerial defence drills.
Following the exercise, the British warships volition marque larboard calls successful Mumbai and Goa, highlighting deepening defence ties portion showcasing British commercialized and manufacture and the beardown “living bridge” of radical and civilization betwixt the U.K. and India.
Indian Navy and Royal Navy unit enactment successful the inaugural time of Exercise KONKAN-25 adjacent India’s occidental seaboard connected Sunday, October 5, 2025. (Defence PRO via PTI Photo) | Photo Credit: PTI
British High Commissioner to India Lindy Cameron said, “The U.K. and India judge successful an Indo-Pacific that is escaped and open. We stock an ambition for a modern defence and information partnership, a cardinal pillar of U.K.-India Vision 2035, agreed by our Prime Ministers this year. The engagements betwixt the CSG of our 2 navies show our committedness to maintaining the rules-based planetary bid successful the portion and laic the groundwork for aboriginal cooperation.”
Commodore James Blackmore, Commander of the U.K. CSG, added that the concern reinforces shared commitments to information and stableness successful the Indo-Pacific.
Upon completion of the larboard visits, the U.K. CSG volition behaviour an aerial defence workout with the Indian Air Force, allowing some forces to trial tactics and fortify interoperability.
Operation Highmast is simply a multinational deployment led by the U.K. CSG, providing an accidental for the U.K.’s Armed Forces to behaviour a large planetary deployment and workout analyzable operations alongside partners and allies successful the region, with 12 different nations supporting the deployment with ships oregon personnel.
