TROPEX 21 (Theatre Level Operational Readiness Exercise)

Context:

TROPEX 21 Debrief Naval Commanders at Kochi for OP Discussions

Theme: ‘Combat Ready, Credible and Cohesive force’.

Key Highlights:

The exercise had commenced in January 2021, which will culminate by the third week of February.
Participants: Indian Navy, Coast Guard, Marine Police of 13 coastal States and Union Territories along with other stakeholders in the maritime domain.
The exercise was spread over the vast geographical expanse of Indian Ocean and its adjunct waters, with exercise scenarios centred around the extant geopolitical situation in IOR.
As a prelude to this Theatre Level exercise, a coastal defence exercise – Sea Vigil was conducted in mid Jan 21 which witnessed all stakeholder Ministries of Govt of India

Sea Vigil:
- ‘Sea Vigil’: In the first phase, the Indian Navy had conducted coastal defence exercise ‘Sea Vigil’ along the entire coastline and Island territories of India on 12-13 January 2021.
- Exercise Sea Vigil was followed by a large-scale Tri-Service joint amphibious exercise AMPHEX-21.

Aims:
- Promote Stability and Peace: The Theatre Level exercise also aims to validate the Navy’s offensive-defence capabilities, safeguard national interests in the maritime domain and promote stability and peace in the Indian Ocean Region.
- Coastal Defence Setup: This exercise aimed to validate the coastal defence setup of the country, which was entirely revamped after the 26/11 Terror attacks at Mumbai.
- Combat readiness: It aimed at testing combat readiness of the Navy in a complex multi-dimensional scenario set in the context of the current geo strategic environment.