Indian navy participated in a trilateral exercise with the navies of Tanzania and Mozambique in its first-ever trilateral naval drill with African nations as part of attempts to boost the nation’s defence ties with the continent. The Gandhinagar Declaration, which was adopted during the recently concluded India-Africa Defence Dialogue in Gandhinagar on the sidelines of DefExpo 2022, provided the basis for this exercise.
The handling of asymmetric threats, boat and helicopter operations, casualty evacuation drills, fire fighting, and visit board search and seizure (VBSS) drills were all part of the exercise, according to the officials. The sea phase of the exercise took place from October 28 to 29, while the harbour phase was held from October 26 to 28.
Participating in the exercise in Tanzania was the Indian Navy Ship (INS) Tarkash. Captain Abraham Samuel, the ship’s commanding officer, and Captain Nitesh Garg, the defence attaché, arrived at the port with the ship, according to a statement released by the Indian High Commission in Tanzania.
Along with Tanzania, INS Tarkash participated in a bilateral maritime collaboration exercise. Officials claim that the experiment will help to increase interoperability between the two movies and the sharing of best practises.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on defence cooperation was signed between Tanzania and India in 2003. The MoU lays forth a broad framework for the implementation of various defence cooperation initiatives between the two nations.
Tanzania and India have recently worked together to educate military personnel in Indian institutions. 400 Tanzanian defence personnel were trained in India. On the invitation of the late President John Magufuli, an Indian Military Training Team (IMTT) has been based at the Command and Staff College in Arusha since December 2017. In 2021, New Delhi hosted the inaugural meeting of the India-Tanzania Joint Defence Cooperation Committee (JDCC), and this year, a Mini-DefExpo was held in Dar es Salaam by the Indian High Commission.
Hydrography is another significant area of collaboration between the two nations. Indian naval survey ships evaluated Tanzanian ports’ hydrography and produced nautical charts. Six nautical charts and seven ENCs were given to Tanzanian officials in 100 copies during the Indian Prime Minister’s state visit there in July 2016.
