Context: Recently, the US Navy announced the multinational exercise of Sea Dragon 22 with six Indo-Pacific nations.

Key Points

• Sea Dragon is a US led multinational annual exercise.
• Other five participating nations are Australia, Canada, India, Japan and South Korea.
• Aim: To practice and discuss anti-submarine warfare tactics to operate against traditional and non-traditional maritime security challenges in the Indo- pacific region.
• Sea Dragon 22 focuses on anti-submarine warfare (ASW) training and excellence, which includes everything from tracking simulated targets to tracking a genuine US Navy submarine.
• The exercise assumes significance in the face of strained relations that some countries have with China and the growing forays of the PLA-Navy into the Indian ocean region.
• The Indian Navy has recently inducted two more Poseidon 8I maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft, which would further boost its ability to keep an eye over the Chinese ships and submarines in the region.