India and Malaysia on Saturday took their increasing defence cooperation a step forward by holding a naval exercise that involved targeted live firing. This marked a scale-up of the regular “passage exercise.”
Two India-built missile corvettes, INS Kora and INS Kirpan, were joined by Malaysian corvettes, KD Amin and KD Nadim, in the “passage exercise.”
With that, the Indian vessels completed their five-day goodwill visit, the other highlight of which was the professional interaction with the Malaysian Navy at its Lumut base in Perak State. The two sides also carried out a simulated exercise at the base.
Earlier, hosting a reception aboard INS Kora, India’s High Commissioner to Malaysia, Ashok K. Kantha emphasised the importance of such voyages of friendship and professional exchanges between the two maritime neighbours. Perak State Assembly Speaker V. Sivakumar noted how trade and tourism ties between the two countries were also on the upswing now.
The goodwill visit by the Indian ships acquired unusual importance in the context of the recent agreement between the two sides to elevate their defence ties to a new high. In January, Defence Minister A.K. Antony and Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Najib Tun Razak agreed upon a programme of training Malaysian Air Force personnel by Indian specialists in the operation of Su-30 MKM warplanes. The two Ministers had also emphasised the possibility of enhanced naval cooperation that could cover the Scorpene class of submarines, which Malaysia would acquire and India “is producing.”
Yet another identified area for cooperation was counter-insurgency training on a coordinated basis. Other possibilities that were cited for overall defence cooperation included co-production, joint ventures, and military-related industry collaboration at one level, and interactions with other countries to promote regional and global security, at another level.
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