South Africa has begun naval training with India and Brazil, with plans to combine its Gripen fighter support and submarine with foreign warships in an expanded programme of combat exercises.
- South Africa, India and Brazil opened their ninth IBSAMAR naval exercise on 12 October.
- The programme includes warships, a South African submarine and planned Gripen fighter support.
- Organisers have expanded air-defence, boarding and weapons-firing activities.
- The sea phase is scheduled for 15–19 October, following preparations at Simon’s Town.
IBSAMAR IX opened at Simon’s Town on 12 October. India is leading this edition.
Its INS Tarkash guided-missile frigate joins Brazil’s Barroso corvette and South African vessels, including the frigate SAS Amatola and submarine SAS Manthatisi.
The exercise is intended to improve the forces’ ability to operate together, with more demanding air-defence, boarding and weapons-firing activities.
According to DefenceWeb’s report from the opening ceremony, South Africa also plans Gripen and helicopter support. Preparations run through 14 October, before the sea phase scheduled for 15–19 October.
The planned programme covers surface and anti-submarine warfare, maritime interception, rescue and helicopter operations.
Training with different ships and aircraft tests more than individual equipment. Crews must communicate, coordinate movements and understand their partners’ procedures.
An established partnership
IBSAMAR sits within the India–Brazil–South Africa cooperation framework and began in 2008. The new development is this edition’s opening and expanded programme.
The deployment also follows India’s recent naval engagement with Kenya. Tarkash visited Mombasa in late September and exercised with Kenya Navy Ship Jasiri, while the two navies held their first staff talks on 5–7 October.
Those engagements show India maintaining naval relationships along Africa’s eastern and southern coasts. They do not establish a new military alliance.
The exercise gives South Africa an opportunity to practise coordinating its ships, submarine and aircraft with international partners. However, the planned maritime activities and their outcomes can only be assessed once the exercise is complete.