USS John S. McCain, Japan’s JS Onami and Australia’s HMAS Ballarat conduct a replenishment-at-sea with India’s INS Shakti in the Indian Ocean.  (US Pacific Fleet)
USS John S. McCain, Japan’s JS Onami and Australia’s HMAS Ballarat conduct a replenishment-at-sea with India’s INS Shakti in the Indian Ocean.  (US Pacific Fleet) 
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Watch: Indian Navy Ship Refuels Two Warships Simultaneously During Malabar Exercise With Navies Of US, Japan And Australia

BySwarajya Staff

During the Malabar Exercise with the navies of the United States, Japan and Australia in the Indian Ocean earlier this week, the Indian Navy demonstrated its underway replenishment or UNREP capabilities.

Demonstrating this capability, INS Shakti refueled two warships at sea simultaneously. INS Shakti is one of the two Deepak-class fleet tankers in service with the Indian Navy. It was commissioned into the Navy in 2011.

Underway replenishment is a complex maneuver through which fuel, munitions, supplies and personnel are transferred from one ship to another while the vessels are deployed at sea. This helps the vessels receiving supplies to remain mission deployed on the high seas for a relatively longer duration.

INS Shakti performed this complex maneuver with two warships simultaneously “like a war in the park”, the Indian Navy said on Twitter.

The first phase of the Malabar Naval Exercise commenced on 3 November and is scheduled to conclude later today in the Bay of Bengal. The second phase of the exercise will take place in the Arabian Sea later this month.

This edition of the Malabar Exercise is significant not only because it is taking place at a time when tensions between India and China have increased over the standoff in eastern Ladakh but also because it has brought all the four Quad countries together for a war game for the first time in over a decade.