Article Posted on : - Oct 05, 2010

Amphibious Assault Ship USS Essex

WASHINGTON (PTI): Indian and the US navy are conducting their annual amphibious training exercise - Habu Nag - in the East China Sea, which is designed to enhance their bilateral interoperability, including humanitarian assistance and disaster response.

Forward-deployed amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2) is participating in this exercise, while several officers of the Indian Armed Forces embarked on it to observe Navy and Marine amphibious training and to participate in a tabletop exercise.

The exercise that started on September 29 is scheduled to conclude Tuesday.

"A key aspect is that the US has Marines embedded with Navy staff, doing jobs for the Navy that are Marine Corps oriented and vice versa," said Lt Col Evan Holt, a Marine liaison officer assigned to Commander, Task Force 76, who is working with the Indian officers.

"We want to demonstrate how two different services with two different goals mesh their operations and personnel to complete those goals," Holt said.

Cmdr Gagan Kaushal, of the Indian navy said the exercise gives them the chance to get a ground view of how everything is executed. "It also gives us the chance to get a ground view of how everything is executed," he said.

Noting that it has been a wonderful experience being on a US ship, Col Manoj Tiwari, of the Indian army said: "We have learned a lot about the US Marine Corps and how they function and work with the naval element.

We have the experience on land; what we hope to learn is how the Marines perform landings and facilitate more fluid interaction between our own naval and amphibious elements."