Indian warships in Jakarta to boost defence ties

NEW DELHI: Two Indian warships today reached Jakarta in Indonesia aiming to boost bilateral defence ties and foster interoperability between the two naval forces.

The Indian Navy has deployed its eastern fleet to South East Asia and Southern Indian Ocean in pursuit of India's 'Look East' and 'Act East' policy.

The ships will the stationed there for four days after which they will participate in an exercise with Indonesian Navy for improving interoperability in maritime operations and search and rescue, a Navy statement said.

These ships -- INS Ranvir (a guided missile destroyer) and INS Shakti (a sophisticated fleet tanker and support ship) -- along with INS Satpura (an indigenously built guided missile stealth frigate) and INS Kamorta (an indigenously built anti-submarine corvette), are on a two-month long deployment to South East Asia and Southern Indian Ocean.

During this deployment, the ships have visited Singapore and would also visit Freemantle (Australia), Kuantan (Malaysia), Sattahip ( Thailand) and Sihanoukville (Cambodia).