MUMBAI: In a bid to give a new dimension to the annual war games between the Indian Navy and the British Royal Navy - KONKAN-2010 - it is being conducted as a ‘Table-Top’ exercise at the tactical simulator located at Maritime Warfare Centre, Mumbai.

A ‘Table-Top’ exercise is an exercise without actual participation of ships, but with participation of planning staff of both countries.

“The aim of this exercise is to exchange operational Planning concepts; Maritime Domain Awareness Procedures and to test these plans through simulations of a maritime scenario at sea. Experiences from this Table Top game will be utilised to refine concepts for future Konkan series of exercises involving ships, submarines and aircraft,” official sources said on Wednesday.

The nine-member British Royal Navy team is headed by Commodore James Morse, the Commander of United Kingdom Task Group and the Indian team of eleven officers is headed by Captain M A Hampiholi, Commanding Officer INS Talwar. As part of the event, a two-day exercise between HMS Talent, a Trafalgar class submarine, of the Royal Navy and a Shishumar class submarine of the Indian Navy is being conducted off the West coast of India.

The first KONKAN exercise was conducted in April 2004 in Chennai, followed by exercises in 2006, 2008 and 2009 in India.

KONKAN 2007 was a Table-Top exercise conducted at the British Royal Navy’s Maritime Warfare Centre at Portsmouth, UK. In 2009, KONKAN was conducted off the southern coast of UK during the deployment of IN Ships to the Mediterranean Sea and North Atlantic Ocean. The IN-RN KONKAN series of exercises are a part of the constructive engagement process between the two navies.

REFINING CONCEPTS

The aim of this exercise is to exchange operational Planning concepts; Maritime Domain Awareness Procedures and to test these plans through simulations of a maritime scenario at sea.