AMPHEX 21 Triservices Amphibious Exercise – Burning Issues

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IN NEWS

The Indian Armed forces conducted a large-scale tri-service joint amphibious exercise AMPHEX – 21 in Andaman and Nicobar group of islands in between 21 to 25 January 2021.
Exercise KAVACH for the defence of Andaman & Nicobar Islands was also the part of AMPHEX – 21.
The exercise was conducted under the aegis of Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) with participation of Eastern Naval Command (ENC) and Army Southern Command (SC) involving assets of Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard.

The exercise involved participation and deployment of all forces of ANC,
elements of Amphibious Brigade of Army’s Southern Command
along with corvettes, submarine and amphibious landing ships of Navy’s Eastern Fleet and Marine Commandos.
Jaguar Maritime Strike and transport aircraft from Indian Air Force and assets of Coast Guard also participated.

The 54th Infantry Division is an Infantry division of the Indian Army.
The Division was raised as an Infantry Division, but was converted into a Reorganised Amphibious Formation (RAMFOR) in 2011.
It is currently the only division of the Indian Army which carries out Amphibious warfare.
The division is headquartered at Secunderabad in Telangana and is a part of XXI Corps.

It is also a tri service Military exercise.
The exercise was conducted under the aegis of the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) which happens to be the only Joint Forces Command of India.
The exercise was participated by the Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air force and the Indian Coast Guard.

It involves the synergised application of maritime surveillance assets, air and maritime strikes besides the air defence, submarine and landing operations.

The exercise was conducted with the aim of validating India’s capabilities to safeguard the territorial integrity of the island territories.
The exercise was also aimed at enhancing the operational synergy and joint warfighting capabilities between the three Services.

These exercises become more significant in the light of 1993 Bombay Bombings and the 2008 Mumbai Attacks that took place because of unsecure maritime border.