Defence Current Affairs Quiz: 11 November 2026

The Ministry of Defence signed the contract for the normal refit and re-powering of the frigate INS Betwa with Cochin Shipyard Limited, and the value of that contract is Rs 498.58 crore, described by the Ministry as approximately Rs 500 crore.

Sea Vigil-26 is the fifth edition of the pan-India coastal defence exercise and is being held from 11 to 19 November 2026 with the Indian Navy acting as the lead coordinating agency.

Naseem Al Bahr, which translates as Sea Breeze, is the bilateral maritime exercise between the Indian Navy and the Royal Navy of Oman, and the edition just completed is the fifteenth.

IMNEX stands for the India-Myanmar Naval Exercise, and the edition now in progress is the eighth. It is being conducted at Visakhapatnam from 10 to 14 November 2026.

INS Betwa, the warship going in for a normal refit and re-powering at Cochin Shipyard Limited under a contract worth Rs 498.58 crore, is a Brahmaputra-class frigate of the Indian Navy.

The exercise was conceived in that year to validate the measures that had been instituted to strengthen maritime security in the aftermath of the attacks on Mumbai, which came by sea.

The sea phase of the exercise featured joint activity between Indian Naval Ship Surat and the Royal Navy of Oman vessel Al-Mu'azzar, including Visit, Board, Search and Seizure drills and cross-deck operations that gave crews of both navies practice in coordinated procedures.

The eighth edition of the India-Myanmar Naval Exercise is being held at Visakhapatnam from 10 to 14 November 2026, and the Myanmar Navy ship UMS King Sin Phyu Shin arrived at that port on 10 November 2026 for it.

This is precisely why the contract is called a refit and re-powering rather than a plain refit: the type of machinery that drives the frigate is itself being changed.

Sea Vigil is treated as a build-up to it, and the two exercises read together address the entire spectrum of maritime security challenges, from the defence of the coast to operations far out on the high seas.

During the harbour phase of the exercise, specialist teams of the Indian Navy and the Royal Navy of Oman held Subject Matter Expert Exchanges on three areas of common interest: Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Mine Countermeasure Operations and Hydrography.

The opening ceremony of the exercise was held on board INS Rana on 10 November 2026, marking the formal start of the bilateral engagement.

The contract covers the normal refit and re-powering of INS Betwa, a Brahmaputra-class frigate, and it was signed with Cochin Shipyard Limited in New Delhi on 11 November 2026 with Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh present.