TOKYO/NEW YORK -- Members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue -- the U.S., Japan, Australia and India -- wrapped up joint defense drills in the Indian Ocean on Thursday, further strengthening their security partnership amid China's growing military clout in the region.
The second phase of the annual Malabar exercise, which included all four Quad members for the second straight year, had begun Monday, according to the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force.
On the final day, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday, the U.S. Navy's top commander, hosted 12 senior Indian Navy officers aboard the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier.
Those visiting included Indian chief of Naval Staff Adm. Karambir Singh and Vice Adm. A.B. Singh, commander in chief of the Eastern Naval Command.
"This visit to Carl Vinson during Malabar was an important opportunity to see firsthand the integration between our two navies at-sea," Gilday said in a U.S. Navy news release.
"By our navies continuing to exercise together, as we are doing right now alongside Japanese and Australian naval forces, there is no doubt our partnership will only continue to grow. Cooperation, when applied with naval power, promotes freedom and peace, and prevents coercion, intimidation and aggression," he said.
Senior Indian Navy officers aboard the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson on Oct. 14 during Exercise Malabar off the coast of India. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy) U.S. Navy participants included aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain, guided-missile destroyer USS Stockdale and a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft.
Japan sent its helicopter carrier JS Kaga and destroyer JS Murasame.
Representing the Indian Navy was guided-missile destroyer INS Ranvijay, multirole stealth frigate INS Satpura and a P-8I maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft.
Royal Australian Navy participants included frigate HMAS Ballarat and fleet replenishment vessel HMAS Sirius.
The presence of multiple maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft signaled that the participants engaged in anti-submarine warfare drills in the Bay of Bengal.
During the first phase of the Malabar exercise, which began in August, the countries practiced maritime operations near Guam and in the Philippine Sea. This year's drills were spread out over the course of three months, unlike the roughly eight-day exercise held in November 2020.
The Malabar exercise originally began as bilateral drills between the U.S. and India. Japan officially joined the framework in 2015, and Australia rejoined last year.
Quad leaders held their first in-person summit in late September, vowing in a joint statement "to meet challenges to the maritime rules-based order, including in the East and South China seas." But the statement did not mention China itself or their defense cooperation, likely out of consideration for India's position that the Quad is not a military alliance.
The bloc wants to avoid pushing China too far on the diplomatic stage. They will instead hold large-scale joint drills on a regular basis to demonstrate their cooperation and to discourage overly provocative moves by Beijing.
The latest exercise comes as multilateral drills, including those involving European players, grow increasingly common in the Indo-Pacific.
Japan, the U.S., the U.K., the Netherlands, Canada and New Zealand engaged a two-day exercise starting Oct. 2 off the coast of Japan's Nansei Islands, not far from Taiwan. Participants included the USS Ronald Reagan and the Carl Vinson from the U.S., as well as the HMS Queen Elizabeth from the U.K.
The Queen Elizabeth also practiced maritime operations with the Maritime SDF in late August in the East China Sea as the U.K. leverages the carrier's deployment to Asia to deepen its security cooperation with Japan. Japan's Ground SDF conducted a joint drill simulating remote island defenses with the French Army and the U.S. Marine Corps in Japan in May as well.