Indo-French joint naval wargames

PARIS, AUG. 6. India's state-of-the-art warship INS Mysore is to participate in a major joint exercise with French naval vessels next week, official sources said here.

The warship, which can operate under nuclear, chemical and biological attack, will carry out the exercises with French ships off Djibouti.

The 6,700-tonne indigenously built destroyer will arrive at Toulon on August 13 on a goodwill port call and would leave on 16th for the sixth Indo-French joint naval exercises. The joint naval exercises are aimed at strengthening ties between the two countries, enhancing service-to-service level cooperation and ensuring better coordination at a global level in peacekeeping, disaster management and operations against maritime piracy.

An advanced naval exercise between the two countries was held in February this year in the Arabian Sea when four French Navy ships including Foch, the conventional aircraft carrier and destroyers Duquesne and Tourville participated in the exercises with Indian warships.

The INS Mysore, built at the Mazagon Docks Ltd in Mumbai, was commissioned in June 1999 and recently took part in the International Naval Review 2000 in New York as part of the Independence Day celebrations in the United States.

The destroyer, which has a formidable 5000 mile range, is capable of performing anti-ship, anti-air and anti-submarine roles.

- PTI

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