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India, Japan, Indonesia conduct trilateral naval exercise in Andaman Sea

February 14, 2026 4 min read International Relations Internal Security GS2 (International Relations) GS3 (Internal Security)
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What Happened

  • The Indian Navy, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), and Indonesian Navy (TNI-AL) conducted a trilateral naval exercise in the Andaman Sea on February 13, 2026.
  • The exercise focused on enhancing joint operational readiness, improving interoperability, and strengthening maritime cooperation for regional stability.
  • This exercise is part of India's broader strategy of deepening trilateral and multilateral naval engagement in the Indo-Pacific region.
  • Concurrently, the Indian Navy recently assumed command of the Combined Task Force (CTF) 154, a multinational training task force operating under the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), with a ceremony held at CMF Headquarters in Manama, Bahrain.

Static Topic Bridges

Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) — India's Only Tri-Service Command

The Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC), established in 2001, is India's only joint tri-service theatre command, headquartered at Port Blair. Its strategic location at the junction of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea gives India a unique geographical advantage for monitoring maritime traffic through the Strait of Malacca — one of the world's busiest shipping chokepoints.

  • Established: October 1, 2001 — India's first and only integrated tri-service command (Army, Navy, Air Force under a single commander).
  • Location: Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands — approximately 1,200 km from the Indian mainland and only 150 km from the northern tip of Sumatra (Indonesia).
  • Strategic significance: The islands straddle the Six Degree Channel and the Ten Degree Channel, commanding access to the Strait of Malacca through which approximately 60,000 vessels transit annually (25% of global maritime trade, nearly 50% of global oil shipments).
  • The ANC conducts biannual coordinated patrols (CORPATs) with Thailand and Indonesia, annual SIMBEX exercises with Singapore, and hosts the biennial MILAN multilateral naval exercise.
  • MILAN (Multilateral Indian-Led Naval Exercise): Last held in 2024 with participation from over 40 countries, hosted by the ANC.

Connection to this news: The trilateral exercise with Japan and Indonesia in the Andaman Sea underscores the ANC's evolving role as a hub for Indo-Pacific maritime cooperation, extending beyond bilateral CORPATs to trilateral operational exercises.

Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) and India's Maritime Strategy

The concept of a "Free and Open Indo-Pacific" (FOIP), which emphasises freedom of navigation, rules-based maritime order, and opposition to unilateral territorial claims, has become the organising framework for naval cooperation among India, Japan, the US, and Australia (the QUAD nations), and increasingly includes ASEAN partners like Indonesia.

  • The FOIP concept was first articulated by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2007 as the "Confluence of Two Seas" (Indian and Pacific Oceans), and formalised as FOIP strategy in 2016.
  • India's Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI), announced by PM Modi at the East Asia Summit in 2019, focuses on seven pillars: maritime security, maritime ecology, maritime resources, capacity building, disaster risk reduction, science/technology/academic cooperation, and trade connectivity.
  • The QUAD (India, US, Japan, Australia): Revived in 2017 after a decade of dormancy; elevated to leader-level summit in 2021. Naval cooperation centres on Exercise Malabar (annual since 1992, quadrilateral since 2020).
  • India-Japan: Special Strategic and Global Partnership (upgraded 2014); key defence exercises include JIMEX (bilateral naval), Dharma Guardian (Army), Shinyuu Maitri (Air Force).
  • India-Indonesia: Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (2018); conduct bilateral CORPAT in the Andaman Sea and Garuda Shakti (Army exercise).

Connection to this news: The trilateral exercise brings together a QUAD member (Japan), an ASEAN major (Indonesia), and India in the strategically vital Andaman Sea, demonstrating the practical operationalisation of FOIP principles through "minilateral" arrangements that complement the broader QUAD architecture.

Strait of Malacca — Global Maritime Chokepoint

The Strait of Malacca, connecting the Andaman Sea to the South China Sea, is one of the world's most critical maritime chokepoints. Control over or access to this strait has significant implications for energy security, trade flows, and naval power projection — making the Andaman Sea exercises strategically significant.

  • Length: approximately 800 km; narrowest point: approximately 2.8 km (Phillips Channel near Singapore).
  • Traffic: approximately 60,000 vessels per year, carrying roughly 25% of global maritime trade.
  • Energy security: approximately 16 million barrels of oil per day transit the strait — critical for China, Japan, and South Korea's energy imports.
  • China's "Malacca Dilemma" (coined by President Hu Jintao in 2003): Over 80% of China's oil imports pass through the strait, driving China's development of alternative routes (CPEC/Gwadar, Myanmar-China pipeline, Kra Canal feasibility study).
  • The littoral states — Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore — cooperate on the Malacca Strait Patrols (MSP) mechanism for anti-piracy and maritime security.
  • India's geographic advantage: The Andaman and Nicobar Islands sit at the western entrance of the Strait, giving India the potential to influence access during a crisis.

Connection to this news: The trilateral exercise with Japan and Indonesia — both of which have vital interests in the security of the Malacca strait — reinforces India's role as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean Region and positions the ANC as a key node in the Indo-Pacific security architecture.

Key Facts & Data

  • Andaman and Nicobar Command: Established October 2001, headquartered at Port Blair
  • Strait of Malacca traffic: approximately 60,000 vessels/year, 25% of global maritime trade
  • Oil through Malacca Strait: approximately 16 million barrels/day
  • QUAD members: India, US, Japan, Australia (leader-level summit since 2021)
  • Exercise Malabar: Annual since 1992; quadrilateral (India, US, Japan, Australia) since 2020
  • India-Indonesia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership: 2018
  • India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership: 2014
  • MILAN: Biennial multilateral exercise hosted by ANC, 40+ participant countries