India, France navies conduct maritime partnership exercise in Bay of Bengal

INS Rana is a guided missile destroyer and INS Sumedha is an indigenously built offshore patrol vessel that took part in the exercise

New Delhi: Indian Naval Ships INS Rana and INS Sumedha undertook a Maritime Partnership Exercise (MPX) with French Navy ship FS Surcouf in the Bay of Bengal on Friday.

INS Rana is a guided missile destroyer and INS Sumedha is an indigenously built offshore patrol vessel that took part in the exercise.

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The French Navy’s La Fayette class frigate Surcouf visited Visakhapatnam from June 26-29 and participated in a variety of activities with Indian Navy ships, which included professional and social interactions, sports fixtures and cross-deck visits, the Ministry of Defence said in an official release.

Before leaving Visakhapatnam, the Indian naval vessels — Rana and Sumedha — participated in a number of exercises with the FS Surcouf, which included tactical manoeuvres, replenishment at sea (RAS) approaches, air defence against fighter aircraft and cross-deck helicopter operations.

A customary farewell steam past between the ships reaffirmed the close friendship between the two fleets, marking the end of the MPX.

The visit of FS Surcouf to India signifies the strong navy-to-navy links, interoperability and strong bonds between Indian Navy and French Navy, the press release by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) read.

Earlier this year, FS La Fayette, a frigate and FS Dixmude, a Mistral-class amphibious assault class ship had participated in an MPX with INS Sahyadri, a guided missile frigate from March 10 to 11.