At Malabar 2024, Quad nations promote maritime order for a Free and Open Indo-Pacific

FORUM Staff

Australian, Indian, Japanese and United States naval forces concluded Exercise Malabar 2024 in mid-October with drills in the Bay of Bengal to promote the Allies and Partners’ collective planning and integration of advanced warfare tactics to ensure a Free and Open Indo-Pacific.

The 28th iteration of the exercise combined training in surface, subsurface, air and information domains, and featured eight ships and a dozen aircraft. Malabar began in 1992 as a bilateral exercise between India and the U.S. and has grown in complexity and size to include Australia and Japan. It was the fifth time that all four member nations of the Quad partnership participated.

“Malabar 2024 reaffirms [the] Indian Navy’s commitment to maritime security and cooperation among like-minded nations in the Indo-Pacific,” Indian Navy Vice Adm. Rajesh Pendharkar, flag officer commanding-in-chief of the Eastern Naval Command, said at the opening ceremony. “Our joint efforts aim to enhance operational synergy and foster stronger bonds of friendship. Together, we look towards safeguarding our shared values [to] achieve peace and stability in the region.”

The exercise focused on enhanced cooperation and operational capabilities and included expert discussions on special operations, surface, air and anti-submarine warfare, India’s Defence Ministry said. Drills emphasized maritime domain awareness.

Participating assets included the Royal Australian Navy Anzac-class frigate HMAS Stuart, a Royal Australian Air Force P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, and the Indian Navy destroyer INS Delhi, frigate INS Tabar, corvettes INS Kamorta and INS Kadmatt, and fleet oiler INS Shakti, as well as a submarine and P-8I maritime patrol aircraft. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) deployed the Murasame-class destroyer JS Ariake, while the U.S. Navy sent a P-8 Poseidon aircraft, the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Dewey and Destroyer Squadron 15. Special forces from all four nations also participated.

“I’m fired up to be here … with my counterparts as our navies train together in the Indian Ocean to strengthen our combat readiness, maritime integration, and interoperability,” U.S. Navy Adm. Steve Koehler, commander of the Pacific Fleet, said in a news release. “Malabar is a great example of a combined team operating together in order to deter conflict and reinforce our shared commitment to a Free and Open Indo-Pacific.”

Malabar also demonstrated the Quad’s commitment to protecting sea lines of communication amid increasing assertiveness by the People’s Republic of China (PRC), including illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive tactics in the Indo-Pacific. The PRC claims much of the South China Sea and parts of the East China Sea as its territory despite overlapping claims by Japan and other nations. An international tribunal ruled in 2016 that Beijing had no legal basis for its territorial assertion in the South China Sea, but the PRC has ignored that decision.

Naval strategists said Malabar reflects Quad initiatives to build trust among partners and scale up the complexity of exercises to improve operational interoperability, according to Shruti Pandalai, a fellow at the New Delhi-based Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.

“If the goal is to deter Chinese adventurism, limit countervailing influence, and shape the environment in favor of a free and open seas, then building collective maritime competence in the region is what the four nations are aiming for,” Pandalai wrote in The Diplomat magazine in October 2024. “Malabar is a step toward that goal.”

Japan first participated in Malabar in 2007 and JMSDF Vice Adm. Katsushi Omachi lauded the growing collaboration among the Quad nations.

“I believe Malabar will contribute to the peace and stability, as well as the rules-based maritime order, which lead to a Free and Open Indo-Pacific,” he said. “Japan-U.S.-India-Australia collaboration is now getting closer than before and I am expecting the multilateral bonds among the navies will deepen.”