INS Surat Reaches Muscat for Naseem Al Bahr Exercise

INS Surat, an Indian Naval Ship, arrived at the Omani port of Muscat on 8 November 2026. The visit begins India's part in the fifteenth edition of Naseem Al Bahr, the bilateral maritime exercise that the Indian Navy holds with the Royal Navy of Oman. The name of the exercise means Sea Breeze.

What the deployment covers

Two activities follow one another on this deployment. The first is the exercise itself, which is divided into a harbour phase and a sea phase. The second is a Coordinated Patrol, shortened to CORPAT, that the two navies will carry out together once the exercise is over.

• Cross-deck visits, in which sailors of one navy go aboard the ships of the other, form part of the harbour programme.
• Operational interactions let the two sides compare how they handle ships, drills and procedures at sea.
• Sporting events are held alongside the professional schedule.
• Such activities help both navies share experience and best practices and improve the ability of their units to work together.

Why the port call matters

The Ministry of Defence described the visit as a marker of the maritime partnership between India and Oman, which rests on ties the two countries have kept up over a long period. The deployment was placed within the Government of India's MAHASAGAR vision, expanded as Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions.

The arrival of the ship also carries forward the understanding reached at the thirteenth meeting of the India-Oman Joint Military Cooperation Committee, which was held on 24 November 2025.

Points to remember

For candidates, the facts worth fixing in memory are the name of the ship, the country and the port it visited, the edition number of the exercise, the full form of MAHASAGAR, and the fact that the coordinated patrol comes after the exercise rather than before it.