Pre Sail Conference and Final Briefing Prior to Commencement of Sea Phase Malabar – 19

Pre Sail Conference and Final Briefing Prior to Commencement of Sea Phase Malabar – 19

Rear Admiral Suraj Berry, FOCEF from Indian Navy, Rear Admiral James E Pitts, CTF 54 of UN Navy and Rear Admiral Masafumi Nisiwaki, CCF4 of JMSDF along with Commanding Officers and Ops Teams of all ships participating in Malabar 2019 attended the Pre Sail Conference and the Final Briefing of Sea Phase of Ex Malabar on 29 September 2019.

As part of Harbour Phase, personnel from IN, USN and JMSDF held professional interaction in the form of Subject Matter Expert Exchange (SMEE) and shared best practices in common aspects of maritime operations. Visit, Board, Search and Seizure (VBSS) drills for all Boarding Teams were conducted onboard INS Kiltan and Cross Deck Briefings for aircrew of all three navies was undertaken onboard JS Chokai. Junior officers from IN Ships Sahyadri and Kiltan participated along with their counterparts from the JMSDF and USN, in the 'Young Officers Interaction" event organised as part of Ex Malabar 19, to develop a better understanding between the 3 navies.

Officers and men of INS Sahyadri participated in a 3 way Futsal tournament with their counterparts from the USN and JMSDF as part of the Sports Interaction during Harbour Phase of Malabar 19 exercise. JMSDF, IN and USN personnel of the participating ships undertook Clean-up drive of public spaces at the Sasebo Yamatocho, Children's Home, as part of goodwill community service.

A Joint briefing was carried out for the crew of the three participating MPRA Squadrons. Maritime Patrol Aircraft Crew of VP-5 "Mad Foxes" US Navy VP-3 "Sea EAGLES" of JMSDF and INAS 312 "Albatross" of Indian Navy were lined up at Atsugi Air Base, Japan prior operations in support of Malabar-19.