PROPEX Exercise

Why is in news? THEATRE LEVEL OPERATIONAL READINESS EXERCISE (TROPEX-23) INDIAN NAVY’S LARGEST WAR GAME

Indian Navy’s major Operational level exercise TROPEX for the year 2023, conducted across the expanse of Indian Ocean Region over a duration of four months from Nov 22 - Mar 23, culminated this week in the Arabian Sea.

The overall exercise construct included Coastal Defence exercise Sea Vigil and the Amphibious Exercise AMPHEX.

Together, these exercises also witnessed significant participation from the Indian Army, the Indian Air Force and the Coast Guard.

Set in the Indian Ocean including the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, the theatre of operations for the exercise extended approximately 4300 nm from North to South upto 35 deg South Latitude and 5000 nm from Persian Gulf in the West to North Australia coast in the East, spanning an area of over 21 million square nautical miles.

TROPEX 23 witnessed participation of approximately 70 Indian Navy ships, six submarines and over 75 aircraft.

The culmination of TROPEX 23 brings to an end an intense operational phase for the Indian Navy that commenced in Nov 2022.

TROPEX is being is conducted in many phases to test Navy’s transition from peacetime to hostilities.

In the first phase, the Indian Navy had conducted coastal defence exercise ‘Sea Vigil’ along the entire coastline and Island territories of India.

This exercise directed to authenticate the coastal defence setup of the country that was completely overhauled after the 26/11 terror attacks at Mumbai.

The exercise witnessed large-scale participation from Indian Navy, Coast Guard, Marine Police of 13 coastal States and Union Territories along with other stakeholders in the maritime domain.