About Exercise Varuna
- Exercise VARUNA is the annual bilateral naval exercise between the Indian Navy and French Navy (Marine Nationale), covering air, surface and sub-surface operations.
- India-France naval cooperation began in 1993, building on aero-naval interactions since 1983. The exercise was formally named VARUNA in 2001 and has since evolved into a comprehensive multi-domain maritime exercise across the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean.
Domains, Assets and Structure
- Operational Domains: Covers air, surface and sub-surface warfare, integrating carrier strike groups, frigates, submarines and maritime patrol aircraft.
- Participating Assets: Indian INS Vikrant/INS Vikramaditya and French Charles de Gaulle, along with guided-missile destroyers, INS Trishul, Scorpene/Kalvari-class submarines, P-8I aircraft, Rafale-M and MiG-29K fighters.
- Two-Phase Structure: The Harbour Phase includes professional briefings, cross-deck visits and sports exchanges, followed by a Sea Phase featuring anti-submarine warfare, surface weapon firing, air-defence drills and replenishment-at-sea manoeuvres.
- Rotating Venues: Conducted in Indian waters, including the Arabian Sea off Goa, and French territories such as Toulon and La Réunion; select editions have included trilateral components with partners such as the United Arab Emirates.
India-France Strategic Partnership and Defence-Industrial Ties
- Strategic Partnership: VARUNA is a key operational component of the India-France Strategic Partnership, established in 1998 and later elevated to a Special Global Strategic Partnership.
- Defence-Industrial Cooperation: The exercise supports operational trust and defence cooperation, including Project 75 Scorpene submarines, Rafale-M fighter jets for Indian aircraft carriers, and engine maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities in India.
- Resident Indian Ocean Presence: France maintains a permanent regional presence through La Réunion and Mayotte, linking India’s SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) vision with France’s Indo-Pacific strategy.
Conclusion
Exercise VARUNA, formally named in 2001, has evolved from bilateral naval contact in the early 1990s into a multi-domain exercise involving carriers, submarines and aircraft. It anchors the India-France Strategic Partnership in maritime security across the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean.
| This concept has been elaborately discussed in the following article- Exercise VARUNA 2026 |