Operation Southern Readiness 26-2 Concludes at Southern Naval Command, Kochi

📌 Summary:

• Operation Southern Readiness 26-2, a four-day multinational maritime security training engagement, concluded at Southern Naval Command, Kochi on 23 July 2026
• Conducted by the Indian Navy with the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), under the aegis of Southern Naval Command and the Indian Navy-led Combined Task Force 154 (CTF-154)
• Brought together 276 personnel from 27 countries, 76 facilitators/Subject Matter Experts and four international organisations; generated 3,800 training man-hours
• Sessions covered Maritime Domain Awareness & Information Sharing, Maritime Law, Counter-Narcotics, Force Protection, Asymmetric Threats, Maritime Uncrewed Systems and Operational Sea Training
• Facilitated with inputs from the Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR), CMF's Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC), UNODC and the IMO International Maritime Law Institute (IMO IMLI)
• Strengthened interoperability, regional capacity-building and collective maritime security, reinforcing the Indian Navy-CMF partnership

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 Internal Security / Maritime Security — India as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean Region and its leadership of CTF-154.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• Combined Task Force 154 (CTF-154) is led by the Indian Navy under the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF)
• IFC-IOR (Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region) is hosted by India at Gurugram
• UNODC = United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime; IMO IMLI = IMO International Maritime Law Institute
• Hosted at Southern Naval Command, Kochi

🔑 Key Term: Combined Task Force 154 — a Combined Maritime Forces task force focused on maritime security training, currently led by the Indian Navy.