September 27, 2002	Friday	Rajab 19, 1423

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NEW DELHI, Sept 26: India and the United States began joint naval exercises on Thursday in the Arabian Sea in another sign of growing defence ties between the two countries.

The USS Chancellorsville, a guided-missile cruiser, destroyer USS Paul F. Foster, P-3C patrol aircraft and 750 US navy personnel were involved in the week-long joint exercises off India’s southwestern coast, the US embassy in New Delhi said.

“Exercise Malabar, designed to increase interoperability between the two navies, will include surface, sub-surface and air-events” and will end on Oct 3, the embassy said in a statement.

In May, the armies of the two countries held their largest-ever joint exercise in northern India.

The Indian government also announced on Thursday that Indian and US forces would hold joint mountain-warfare exercises in Alaska, called Exercise Geronimo Thrust, from Sept 29 to Oct 11. The exercises will involve India’s Parachute Brigade and Russian-made IL-76 aircraft from the air force.

Those manoeuvres would mark the first participation by Indian troops in a military exercise in the United States.—Reuters