http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/II08Df01.html
US exercising India's military muscles
NEW DELHI - India's hosting of large-scale military exercises involving five countries led by the United States has triggered spirited protests by left-wing parties that prop up the country's ruling coalition.
The naval exercises, which began on Tuesday, are the largest and the most complex that India has ever participated in and feature as many as 25 ships from India, the US, Australia, Japan and
The war games involve three aircraft carriers, two of them American and one Indian, and a nuclear-powered submarine, besides a host of destroyers and frigates. Warplanes, based on the carriers and on land, will also play a major role in the exercises, which include "close air combat".
Code-named "Malabar 07-2", the exercises are the seventh in a recent series of naval drills jointly held by the US and India. Most such exercises were held off peninsular India's west coast. But the present drill is being held in the Bay of Bengal off the port city of Visakhapatnam, where the Indian navy's eastern command is headquartered.
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