SRI VIJAYA PURAM — The first-ever BIMSTEC Maritime Security Exercise has ended in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, with warships from India, Myanmar and Sri Lanka completing five days of harbour and sea drills aimed at making the Bay of Bengal safer, the Ministry of Defence said in a release on November 6.

Source: Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Defence

The exercise, which began on October 30 — Awaaz Punjab reported its opening the same week — ran until November 3 under the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC), India's only operational quad-service command, headed by Vice Admiral Vineet McCarty. The sea phase was held off Sri Vijaya Puram on November 2 and 3.

India fielded three ships — INS Taragiri, INS Karmuk and INS Saryu — alongside Myanmar's UMS King Aung Zeya and Sri Lanka's SLNS Gajabahu. BIMSTEC Secretary General Indra Mani Pandey, India's National Maritime Security Coordinator Vice Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta (Retd) and Myanmar Navy Central Naval Command chief Rear Admiral Kyaw Kyaw Htoo were among those present, according to the ministry.

Source: Defence.in, reporting the Ministry of Defence release

Oct 30–Nov 3Exercise dates
5Warships taking part
3Navies at sea
7BIMSTEC member states

The ministry said the exercise was conducted in the spirit of the Delhi Declaration and built on the outcomes of the fourth BIMSTEC Experts Group Meeting on Maritime Security Cooperation held in November 2025. The drill is one of the initiatives Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced at the sixth BIMSTEC Summit in Thailand last year.

BIMSTEC — the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation — groups Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Earlier joint activities under the grouping were largely land-based; this was the first time its members exercised together at sea under the BIMSTEC banner.

Why it matters

The Bay of Bengal carries busy shipping lanes and faces shared threats from smuggling, piracy and natural disasters. A standing naval exercise gives the littoral states a practised way to respond together, with India — host of the islands command — at the centre of the effort.

The Defence Ministry said the successful culmination marks a step towards institutionalising greater maritime engagement among BIMSTEC member states, through better interoperability, professional interaction and mutual understanding between their navies.