CDS (I) 2021 General Knowledge · Question 83 of 120

Correct — C, Visakhapatnam. The 24th edition of Malabar was split into two phases in November 2020, and the Indian Navy announced Phase 1 as taking place off Visakhapatnam in the Bay of Bengal from 3 to 6 November 2020. Phase 2 followed in the Arabian Sea from 17 to 20 November. What made the edition significant was the participants: Australia joined India, the United States and Japan, so all four navies exercised together for the first time in thirteen years. Phase 1 brought in the destroyer USS John S McCain, the frigate HMAS Ballarat with an MH-60 helicopter and the Japanese destroyer JS Onami with an SH-60, alongside Indian units; Phase 2 put two carrier battle groups to sea, INS Vikramaditya and USS Nimitz. Because of the pandemic the whole exercise was run as a non-contact, at-sea-only event with no port visits.

• (a)Port Blair — Port Blair is also in the Bay of Bengal and is home to the tri-service Andaman and Nicobar Command, which makes it a tempting answer; the Navy placed Phase 1 off Visakhapatnam.
• (b)Mumbai — Mumbai is the headquarters of the Western Naval Command and faces the Arabian Sea, where the second phase was held rather than the first.
• (d)Kochi — Kochi hosts the Southern Naval Command and the Navy's training establishments, and lies on the Arabian Sea side of the peninsula.

Malabar began in 1992 as a bilateral India-United States exercise, took Japan in as a permanent participant in 2015, and became a four-navy exercise with Australia's inclusion in 2020. Visakhapatnam is the headquarters of the Eastern Naval Command, which is why a Bay of Bengal phase is staged from there. The exercise now covers anti-submarine and anti-air warfare, surface action, cross-deck flying, replenishment at sea and weapon firings, and has become the most visible military expression of Quad cooperation without formally belonging to the Quad.

Three of the four options are naval stations, so the question is really asking which sea, and then which port on that sea. Bay of Bengal narrows the field to Port Blair and Visakhapatnam, and the Eastern Naval Command headquarters is the more likely base for a large multinational phase. The context is worth carrying with the answer: 2020 is the year Australia returned, which is the fact examiners have gone back to since. Australia has remained a participant in subsequent editions, so a paper set today would test the same four navies.

• Phase 1 of Malabar 2020 was held off Visakhapatnam in the Bay of Bengal from 3 to 6 November 2020; Phase 2 in the Arabian Sea from 17 to 20 November.
• Australia joined in 2020, making it the first Malabar with all four navies in thirteen years.
• Phase 1 participants included USS John S McCain, HMAS Ballarat and JS Onami with Indian Navy units.
• Phase 2 brought together the carrier battle groups of INS Vikramaditya and USS Nimitz.
• The exercise was conducted as a non-contact, at-sea-only event because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Assuming a multinational exercise must be staged from Port Blair because of the Andaman and Nicobar Command.
• Placing both phases in the same sea; the two phases were deliberately in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.
• Treating Malabar as a Quad exercise in the formal sense; the four navies overlap with the grouping, but the exercise is older and separate.

As a where-was-it-held item on a named exercise, or as an exercise-to-participants match-list.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which navy joined Exercise Malabar in 2020, making it a four-nation exercise?

  • (a)Royal Navy of the United Kingdom
  • (b)French Navy
  • (c)Royal Australian Navy
  • (d)Republic of Singapore Navy

  Answer(c) Royal Australian Navy — its participation brought all four Quad navies together for the first time in thirteen years.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Visakhapatnam is the headquarters of which one of the following naval commands of India?

  • (a)Western Naval Command
  • (b)Eastern Naval Command
  • (c)Southern Naval Command
  • (d)Andaman and Nicobar Command

  Answer(b) Eastern Naval Command — the Western is at Mumbai, the Southern at Kochi and the tri-service command at Port Blair.