New Delhi, Sep 4: Adding another feather to its cap, the Indian Navy won the coveted KAKADU Cup 2018 in Australia. The Indian Navy along with 22 other nations participated in the KAKADU 2018, a biannual joint exercise takes place both ashore and at sea off the coast of Darwin. The multilateral maritime exercise involves the participation of navies of 27 nations and more than 3000 personnel.

During the exercise, professional exchanges in harbour and diverse range of activities at sea, including complex surface, sub-surface and air operations would enable sharing of best practices and hone of operational skills.

The KAKADU Cup is hosted by the Royal Australian Navy with support from the Royal Australian Air Force. It is held biennially in Darwin and the Northern Australian Exercise Areas (NAXA). It must be noted that KAKADU derives its name from Kakadu National Park, which is a protected area in the northern territory of Australia, 171 km south-east of Darwin.

The teams on Sunday participated in sports day where the Indian team dominated all the others to clinch the KAKADU18 Cup. On August 30, the Indian Naval Ship Sahyadri entered the Port of Darwin, Australia to take part in a multilateral maritime exercise.

Reports inform that the ship was deployed in the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean for over four months, which included representing the Navy in multinational exercises MALABAR 18 at Guam and RIMPAC 18 at Hawaii.

To recall, exercise KAKADU started in 1993. It is a premier multilateral regional maritime engagement hosted by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and supported by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).

KAKADU 2018, the fourteenth edition of the exercise, commenced on August 29 and will last till September 18. The maritime exercise will see participation from 23 warships, one submarine, 45 aircraft, 250 marines and approximately 52 foreign staff from over 25 different countries.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 04, 2018 07:10 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).