Defence Current Affairs Quiz: 27 October 2026

These three vessels sailed as the First Training Squadron on this deployment and entered Colombo harbour, where the Sri Lanka Navy welcomed them with a ceremonial reception and a naval band.

Garuda Shakti is the joint special forces exercise of India and Indonesia, and its eleventh edition commenced at Banyuwangi in Indonesia, with the Indian side represented by the Parachute Regiment (Special Forces) and the host side by the Indonesian Special Forces.

SIMBEX is short for Singapore-India Maritime Bilateral Exercise, and it is conducted between the Indian Navy and the Republic of Singapore Navy.

Yard 1283, named Srishti, was launched there on 27 October 2026 in the presence of the Secretary (Defence Finance) and senior officers of the Indian Navy and the Ministry of Defence.

A Passage Exercise is the short exercise two navies run when their ships are in company, usually as one of them sails on after a harbour visit, and it lets crews practise manoeuvring, communication and formation keeping together.

The eleventh edition of the India-Indonesia joint special forces exercise commenced at Banyuwangi and is being conducted from 27 October to 06 November 2026, which means this edition is being hosted by Indonesia rather than India.

SIMBEX-2026 was run in two stages. The harbour stage was held in port at Visakhapatnam and covered subject matter expert exchanges, cross-deck visits, planning conferences and sporting events.

The Ministry of Defence explained that ships of this class take their names from India's rich heritage, and that Srishti means creation, or the act of creating, in Sanskrit.

This is India's stated maritime vision, and the Colombo port call by the First Training Squadron is placed within it because the visit turns on joint training, professional exchange and shared maritime security rather than one-sided help.

The Indian contingent at the eleventh edition of Garuda Shakti comprises troops of this regiment, while the Indonesian contingent is made up of personnel from the Indonesian Special Forces.

The Republic of Singapore Navy sent RSS Supreme, a Formidable-class stealth frigate, and the ship carried an embarked SH-70B helicopter during the exercise.

The roles set out for these vessels are maritime surveillance, search and rescue, protection of offshore assets such as installations at sea, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and anti-piracy missions.

The joint training culminates in this final phase, which is designed to put the two contingents into lifelike operational situations and to assess the endurance, coordination and combat readiness they have built up during the drill.