It seems that there has been no report on the scene of naval vessels from two countries conducting joint exercises alone for a long time. However, this rare scene appeared just a few days ago. On March 13 local time, the Type 053H3 frigate Abu Ubaida of the Bangladeshi Navy and the Rajput - class destroyer Ranvir of the visiting navy held a joint exercise in the Bay of Bengal. The combined age of the two vessels has reached 65 years.
During the navigation, the two sides carried out interactions on subjects such as replenishment, cross - boarding, surface shooting, and tactical maneuvers. Although this scene is not a real joint exercise of naval fleets from the two countries, it is still very heart - warming to see the domestic Type 053H3 frigate. The construction of this type of frigate started in 1996, and a total of ten were built by 2005. It was the main frigate of the navy in the early 21st century. Although its displacement is only 2,400 tons, compared with previous domestic frigate models, the Type 053H3 has reached a new height in anti - ship, air - defense, and anti - submarine capabilities. It is a medium - sized surface vessel with relatively balanced offensive and defensive capabilities.
The Lianyungang ship with the hull number 522 and the Putian ship with the hull number 523 were decommissioned together in September 2019. After simple refitting, they were handed over to the Bangladeshi Navy and have become the most powerful frigates of the country. The ship participating in this exercise is the former Putian ship, which has just reached 25 years of service.
The Indian destroyer participating in the exercise was purchased from the Soviet Union. It has a displacement of 4,900 tons, started construction in October 1981, and was officially commissioned on October 28, 1986. By the end of this year, it will have served for 40 years. India has a total of five Rajput - class destroyers, and three are still in active service. The Ranvir is quite special. The original Wave - M air - defense missile launchers at the front and rear have been removed. After all, this is a missile model from 65 years ago, and it is now difficult to find spare parts. At the position of the original rear launcher, an eight - cell BrahMos missile vertical launch system has been installed. The two original AK630 close - in weapon systems in the middle have been removed, and Israeli Barak short - range air - defense missiles have been installed. This ship and its sister ship, the Ranvijay, are the only two ships in the large Kashin - class destroyer family that are equipped with a vertical launch system and are still in service.
Currently, there are three types and a total of ten domestically - built destroyers. The number is insufficient. In this situation, the three remaining Rajput - class destroyers need to serve for a few more years.
