Indian Naval Ship (INS) Talwar participated in Exercise Cutlass Express 2021, which had commenced on July 26 along the East Coast of Africa, to improve combined maritime law enforcement capacity and increase interoperability between the regional navies. The exercise concluded on August 6.
The exercise is an annual maritime exercise conducted to promote national and regional maritime security in East Africa and the Western Indian Ocean.
The 2021 edition of the exercise has witnessed the participation of 12 Eastern African countries, US, UK, India and various international organisations, like International Maritime Organisation (IMO), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Interpol, EurEuropean Union Naval Forc (EUNAVFOR), Critical Maritime Routes Indian Ocean (CRIMARIO) and EUCAP Somalia.
As a part of the exercise, the Indian Navy, along with other partners, undertook training of contingents from various participating countries in various fields across the spectrum of maritime security operations.
"Information sharing and information flow between various partner countries with respect to maritime domain awareness is also a key focus of the exercise and participation of India’s Information Fusion Centre Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) would contribute to achieving the same," the statement said.
INS Talwar visited Mombasa in Kenya, wherein various other professional interactions were also planned with the Kenya Navy. The ship, during its stay at Mombasa, also hosted a number of events to build stronger bridges of friendships with Kenya, Indian community and a host of other partners, in addition to the Cutlass Express participants.