USS Nimitz set for India return in early September

HONG KONG: A nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier will return to India next month despite angry protests, its commander said on Monday, highlighting the closer military ties between the two nations.

The USS Nimitz, one of the world's largest warships, will head back to the Bay of Bengal the first week of September to participate in a joint exercise involving 25 ships from India, Australia and Singapore.

It will be the carrier's second visit to India in two months, having been near the country's southern coast in Chennai in July, which was seen as a landmark event in the growing defence ties between Washington and New Delhi.

The ship's arrival was marred by protests organised by Left and opposition political parties which said the Congress-led government should not allow a US warship to dock in Indian waters.

But during a port visit to Hong Kong, Admiral John Terence Blake, the carrier's commander, stressed the September exercise was routine practice and that the US was committed to promoting "peace and stability in the region."

"India is just one nation out there we are and will be talking to on a routine basis," he told agencies.

He said representatives from the US and India held discussions in July about issues on nuclear power although he did not elaborate.

"We were able to dispel a lot of innuendos and rumours that occurred," he said, adding he believed such talks have helped to clear up "a lot of misconceptions."

The visit comes amid a controversial Indo-US nuclear deal that will allow New Delhi to buy atomic fuel, technology and plants, although critics say it will limit India's strategic options.

India and the US have stepped up joint military exercises as part of improved ties, which were boosted in 2005 when they set aside Cold War mistrust and signed the first stage of the historic civilian nuclear energy transfer deal.

The USS Nimitz departed from its home port of San Diego in April and has been in the Persian Gulf twice since.

It finished an eight-day training exercise with the air force, marine corps and coast guard in Guam last week before heading to Hong Kong.

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Mega Indian Ocean Excercise Planned

Details are being revealed of what may be the largest naval exercise ever planned for the Indian Ocean. Twenty warships from five countries, including three aircraft carriers, will assemble in the Bay of Bengal in September for the major naval exercise to be hosted by India. The other countries taking part in the exercise -- code named Malabar-07 -- are Australia, Japan, Singapore, and the United States.

The aircraft carriers will be the nuclear-propelled USS Nimitz and the USS Kitty Hawk, the U.S. Navy’s last conventionally propelled large carrier. The third carrier will be the INS Viraat, the former British VSTOL carrier Hermes, which was commissioned in the Indian Navy in 1989.

Several submarines, including at least one U.S. Navy nuclear-propelled attack submarine, will also participate. An Australian official stated, "This will be the biggest multilateral maritime exercise the Indian Navy will be involved in so far. The joint interaction will have all the three dimensions -- air elements, surface warships and submarines."

The five-day Malabar-07 exercise will see land-based Jaguar strike aircraft of the Indian Air Force participating.

A June 2007 exercise involving Indian, Japanese, and U.S. warships off the Japanese coast had evoked a strong reaction from the Chinese government. Chinese officials issued a statement to the three nations demanding to know the reason they were undertaking naval exercises so close to Chinese territory. Similar questions are expected from China concerning Malabar-07. India and China, the later a supporter of Pakistan, have long been political and, at times, military enemies.

Some Indian political parties have also expressed opposition to the September exercise, claiming that such action will pull India into alliances.

Such exercises tend to build close relationship among the participating navies. And, often regional nations not participating in them will seek to do so in the future.

-- Norman Polmar

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