Sea Dragon exercise

Sea Dragon exercise

Part of: Prelims and GS-II – International Relations 

Context:  India and its partners in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or Quad along with Canada and South Korea participated in the multinational exercise Sea Dragon at Guam in the Western Pacific.

About the exercise

• It is a US-led multinational exercise designed to practice and discuss Anti-submarine warfare tactics to operate together in response to traditional and non-traditional maritime security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region.
• This exercise primarily focuses on anti-submarine warfare (ASW) training.
• It will involve more than 270 hours of in-flight training and activities ranging from tracking simulated targets to tracking a US Navy submarine. 
• Each event will be graded and the country scoring the highest points will receive the Dragon Belt award.
• The Royal Canadian Air Force won the Dragon Belt at last year’s exercise and is defending the title at Sea Dragon 2022.
• The wargame includes contingents from the Indian Navy, the US Navy, Royal Australian Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force, Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force and the South Korean Navy.

About Quad

• It is an informal strategic forum between India, US, Japan, and Australia.
• The strategic alliance was formed to ensure peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific and check China’s expansionist efforts in the region. 
• It was first mooted by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2007 with the support of Vice President Dick Cheney of the US, Prime Minister John Howard of Australia and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India.
• The dialogue was paralleled by joint military exercises of an unprecedented scale, titled Exercise Malabar. 
• The first iteration of the Quad ceased to exist following the withdrawal of Australia in February 2008, after a joint naval exercise between the Quad and Singapore drew diplomatic protests from China.
• However, during the 2017 ASEAN Summits all four former members rejoined in negotiations to revive the quadrilateral alliance.
• The Quadrilateral met five times in 2017–2019. 
• In March 2020, officials from the Quadrilateral met to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic and they were joined by New Zealand, South Korea and Vietnam for the first time.