Exercise Ekatha 2025: Strengthening India–Maldives Maritime Ties

Why in News?

The Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff (DCNS), Indian Navy, is on an official visit to the Maldives to attend the closing ceremony of Exercise Ekatha 2025, the latest edition of the annual bilateral maritime exercise between India and the Maldives.

Background and Context

India and the Maldives share deep-rooted historical, cultural, and maritime ties, anchored in their shared location in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). Given the Maldives’ strategic position astride key sea lanes of communication, maritime cooperation has emerged as a central pillar of bilateral relations.

In this context, Exercise Ekatha, launched in 2017, serves as a key mechanism to:

• Enhance mutual trust between the two navies
• Strengthen capacity-building and interoperability
• Support regional maritime stability under India’s SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) vision

About Exercise Ekatha 2025

• Nature: Annual bilateral maritime exercise
• Participants:
  • Indian Navy
  • Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF)
• Edition: 8th edition (2025)
• Established: 2017

Objectives

• Enhance operational coordination and interoperability
• Improve maritime domain awareness and response capability
• Strengthen cooperation in non-traditional security threats such as piracy, terrorism, and illegal activities at sea

Key Activities and Operational Components

Exercise Ekatha 2025 involved a wide range of complex and high-intensity maritime drills, including:

• Technical and Combat Diving Operations
• Boarding Operations for interdiction of suspicious vessels
• Live Firing Drills to improve combat readiness
• Demolition and Explosive Handling exercises
• Asymmetric Warfare Tactics, focusing on non-conventional maritime threats
• Special Heli-borne Operations, enhancing rapid insertion and extraction capabilities

These activities were designed to sharpen tactical skills, improve joint planning, and ensure seamless coordination during real-world contingencies.

Strategic Significance of Exercise Ekatha

Maritime Security Cooperation

• Enhances joint preparedness to address threats such as piracy, smuggling, and maritime terrorism
• Strengthens security of Sea Lines of Communication (SLOCs) in the Indian Ocean

Capacity Building

• Supports MNDF’s operational capabilities through training and exposure to advanced naval practices
• Reinforces India’s role as a net security provider in the IOR

Diplomatic and Strategic Signalling

• Demonstrates India’s commitment to Maldives’ security and sovereignty
• Reinforces trust amid evolving geopolitical dynamics in the Indian Ocean

Key Facts About Maldives

• Location: North-central Indian Ocean
• Status: Independent island nation
• Area: Asia’s smallest country by land area
• Largest Island: Gan
• Colonial History: Former British protectorate; gained independence in 1965
• Capital: Malé
• Official Language: Dhivehi (Indo-European)
• Other Languages Spoken: Arabic, Hindi, English