In News
- The Indian Navy and the Indonesian Navy are taking part in a bilateral maritime exercise, known as ‘Samudra Shakti’.
Key Points
- About:
- The two-day exercise is being held near to Sunda Strait.
- A strait is a naturally formed, narrow, typically navigable waterway that connects two larger bodies of water. Most commonly it is a channel of water that lies between two landmasses.
- It was started in 2018, as a bilateral exercise under India’s “Act East Policy”.
- The two-day exercise is being held near to Sunda Strait.
- Objective:
- To strengthen the bilateral relationship,
- To enhance mutual understanding
- Bolstering interoperability in maritime operations between the two navies in the Indo-Pacific region.
- Tasks on hand:
- It will include complex maritime operations, such as air defence serials, weapon firings, cross deck landings, military interdiction operations, replenishment approaches, and tactical manoeuvres.
Importance of Sunda Strait
- It links the Java Sea (Pacific Ocean) with the Indian Ocean (south).
- Sunda Strait, Indonesian Selat Sunda, is a channel, 26–110 km wide, between the islands of Java and Sumatra.
- The Sunda Strait is an important passage connecting the Indian Ocean with eastern Asia.
- Deterrents:
- It is notoriously difficult to navigate because of this shallowness, very strong tidal currents, sandbanks, and man-made obstructions such as oil platforms off the Java coast.
Image Courtesy: Sea-seek
Source: PIB
