SITMEX – Trilateral Exercise 2021

Recently, the second edition of the India, Thailand and Singapore SITMEX – trilateral exercise 2021 concluded in the Andaman Sea.

This is the second edition of SITMEX. Hosted by the Republic of Singapore Navy from November 21-22, the exercise was held in the Andaman Sea. This represents a growing number of naval engagements that India has been holding with various navies, including those in Southeast Asia.

But it also indicates the growing willingness of regional navies to look to India as a maritime partner, as well as the increasing comfort level in coming together at the regional level rather than look to just the U.S. in dealing with a rising China. These exercises were held in spite the challenges imposed by COVID-19 pandemic suggests the importance attached by the three navies to these exercises and also the seriousness of the threats they mutually face.

Background:

• The Prime Minister of India, during his keynote address at Shangri-La Dialogue in June 2018 announced the conduct of a trilateral naval exercise between India, Singapore and Thailand.
• The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Shangri-La Dialogue is Asia’s premier defence summit. It was launched in 2002.
• The first edition of Singapore-India-Thailand Maritime Exercise (SITMEX), hosted by Indian Navy, was conducted off Port Blair in September 2019. SITMEX is conducted annually.

Aim:

• The SITMEX series of exercises are conducted to enhance mutual interoperability and imbibing best practices between Indian Navy, Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) and Royal Thai Navy (RTN).
• It also aims to strengthen mutual confidence and develop common understanding and procedures towards enhancing the overall maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region.
• The exercise is in line with India’s SAGAR (Security and Growth for all in the Region) vision.

2020 Edition:

The 2020 edition of the exercise is being hosted by RSN (Singapore).

• The Indian Navy deployed indigenous Anti-Submarine Warfare corvette INS Kamorta and missile corvette INS Karmuk for the exercise.

Other Military Exercises between India and Thailand:

• MAITREE (Army)
• SIAM BHARAT (Air Force)
• Indo-Thai CORPAT (Navy), which was conducted recently

Other Military Exercises between India and Singapore:

• Bold Kurukshetra (Army)
• Joint Military Training (Air Force)
• SIMBEX (Navy)
  • Indian Navy (IN) is scheduled to host the 27^th edition of India – Singapore Bilateral Maritime Exercise SIMBEX-20 from 23^rd to 25^th November 2020 in Andaman Sea.
  • It has been conducted annually since 1994.

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