Indian Navy's Deputy Chief visits Maldives for closing of Exercise Ekatha 2025
Vice Admiral Tarun Sobti, Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff, began an official visit to the Maldives on 15 December 2025 to attend the closing ceremony of Exercise Ekatha 2025, the eighth edition of the India–Maldives maritime exercise.
Summary
Vice Admiral Tarun Sobti, Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff, began an official visit to the Maldives from 15 to 17 December 2025 to attend the closing ceremony of Exercise Ekatha 2025. Exercise Ekatha, established in 2017, is an annual bilateral maritime exercise between the Indian Navy and the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), and the 2025 edition was its eighth. On 15 December 2025, Vice Admiral Sobti handed over operational spares for MNDF Coast Guard Ship Huravee aboard INS Sharda at Male, in line with India's MAHASAGAR vision and Neighbourhood First policy.
Key facts
- Visit
- 15–17 December 2025, Maldives
- Visitor
- Vice Admiral Tarun Sobti, Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff
- Exercise
- Ekatha 2025, 8th edition
- Participants
- Indian Navy and Maldives National Defence Force
- Established
- 2017
- Handover
- Spares for MNDF CGS Huravee, aboard INS Sharda at Male
Practice MCQs 2 questions
Exercise Ekatha is a bilateral maritime exercise between the Indian Navy and the forces of which country?
Show answer
Correct answer: C — Maldives
PIB 2204321: Exercise Ekatha is an annual bilateral maritime exercise between the Indian Navy and the Maldives National Defence Force.
Exercise Ekatha 2025, whose closing ceremony was attended by the Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff in December 2025, was which edition of the exercise?
Show answer
Correct answer: D — 8th
PIB 2204321: Exercise Ekatha was established in 2017, and the 2025 exercise was its 8th edition.