The Indian naval ship INS Surat arrived in Muscat on November 8 to participate in Naseem Al Bahr, a bilateral exercise with the Royal Navy of Oman. The Ministry of Defence said in its November 9 announcement that a coordinated patrol is scheduled to follow the exercise. This is the 15th edition of the naval engagement.
The programme includes activities in harbour and at sea. India’s defence ministry listed cross-deck visits, exchanges on operations and sports among the planned engagements. It said the programme is intended to help personnel from the two navies understand each other’s practices and work together more effectively.
What the two phases are designed to do
Harbour activities give crews time to compare procedures before ships operate together. A visit aboard another vessel can show how the other navy organises its crew and runs its equipment. At sea, the practical questions include whether the participating ships can communicate, understand instructions and coordinate activity in real time.
A coordinated patrol is a separate part of the itinerary. The defence ministry announced its place after the exercise without publishing operational details in the release. The sequence matters for readers following the visit because an arrival notice records the start of an engagement and the patrol announcement describes a subsequent planned activity.
The wider defence relationship
The ministry linked the visit to the Joint Military Cooperation Committee meeting held in November 2025. A committee meeting creates space for officials to set priorities, while a recurring exercise gives sailors and officers a practical setting for professional contact. The port call brings those two levels of cooperation into view.
A closing statement could establish which parts of the programme took place and whether the navies identified specific areas for further training. For example, a summary of communications drills or shared procedures would show how the stated goal of interoperability was pursued. The November 9 release primarily sets out the purpose and scope of the visit and the sequence of the activities.
Sources. Ministry of Defence
