Visakhapatnam. 11 October 2019. The second edition of Indian Navy(IN) –Bangladesh Navy(BN) Coordinated Patrol (CORPAT) commenced in Northern Bay of Bengal on 10 Oct 19. INS Ranvijay, a guided-missile destroyer and INS Kuthar, an ingeniously built missile Corvette are participating in the CORPAT along with BNS Ali Haider, a Type 053 frigate and BNS Shadinota, a Type 056 stealth guided missile corvette. The two-day CORPAT will be followed by the maiden edition of IN-BN Bilateral Exercise at Visakhapatnam from 12 to 16 Oct 19.
The IN-BN CORPAT which commenced in 2018, is aimed at upgrading to a bilateral exercise with the navies engaging in seamanship evolutions, flying exercises with integral helicopters and maritime patrol aircraft at sea. Additionally, exercises entailing the development of mutual communication and sharing of best practices would also be undertaken, adding a new dimension to the Indo – Bangladesh maritime relations. With a common territorial boundary of over 4000 km and a maritime boundary, navies of both the counties aim to practice and hone their mutual cooperation whilst patrolling near the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) during the current edition of CORPAT.
The sea phase would be followed by harbour phase that would include professional interaction between the navies, visits to the Indian Naval training and maintenance facilities at Visakhapatnam. The exercise would also include air familiarisation of BN aircrew towards a better understanding of MPA operations at INS Dega and a ten-day training exercise between IN Marine Commandos and BN SWADS.
