India and Seychelles complete first tri-services edition of Exercise Lamitiye 2026 as INS Trikand departs Port Victoria

Indian Naval Ship Trikand, a stealth frigate of the Indian Navy, departed from Port Victoria, Seychelles, on 20 March 2026 after completing a port call that began on 16 March 2026. The departure followed the conclusion of the first tri-services edition of Exercise Lamitiye 2026, a bilateral military exercise conducted jointly by the Indian Armed Forces and the Seychelles Defence Forces. The 2026 edition marked the inaugural participation of the Indian Navy in Exercise Lamitiye, elevating the drill from a predominantly army-focused event to a fully integrated tri-services engagement involving the Indian Army, the Indian Air Force, and the Indian Navy.

Captain Sachin Kulkarni, Commanding Officer of INS Trikand, conducted official calls on senior Government functionaries of Seychelles and on the High Commissioner of India to Seychelles during the port call. As part of the visit, INS Trikand handed over critical spares and essential stores to the Government of Seychelles, reflecting the practical dimensions of bilateral defence cooperation that extend beyond joint training activities.

What activities were conducted during the harbour phase of Exercise Lamitiye 2026 in Seychelles

Exercise Lamitiye 2026 was conducted across two phases. During the harbour phase at Port Victoria, specialised Visit, Board, Search and Seizure training was conducted onboard INS Trikand. The VBSS training included joint boarding drills involving personnel from both the Indian Navy and the Seychelles Defence Forces. Visit, Board, Search and Seizure operations are a core competency in maritime security, used to interdict vessels suspected of carrying contraband, narcotics, illegal migrants, or weapons in contested or high-risk maritime zones.

The 11th edition of Exercise Lamitiye was held at the Seychelles Defence Academy from 9 to 20 March 2026. The Indian Army contributed personnel from the Assam Regiment, the Indian Air Force deployed a C-130 aircraft, and the Indian Navy was represented by INS Trikand and its embarked Marine Commandos. The integration of all three Indian service branches into a single bilateral exercise with Seychelles is a qualitative shift in the format of the exercise, which has been conducted biennially since 2001.

How did the sea phase of Exercise Lamitiye 2026 demonstrate India-Seychelles maritime interoperability

Following the harbour phase, Exercise Lamitiye 2026 transitioned to a sea phase during which INS Trikand operated alongside SCGS Le Vigilant, a patrol vessel of the Seychelles Coast Guard. The two ships undertook joint boarding operations at sea, conducted by a combined team comprising Indian Navy Marine Commandos and Special Forces of the Seychelles Defence Forces. The joint at-sea boarding operations tested the ability of both forces to execute coordinated interdiction missions against vessels under real maritime conditions.

Senior leadership of the Seychelles Defence Forces, including Major General Michael Rosette, Chief of Defence Forces, and Brigadier Jean Attala, Deputy Chief of Defence Forces, along with other senior officers, embarked on INS Trikand during the sea phase to personally observe the conduct of the exercise. Their presence onboard the Indian Navy vessel reflects the significance attached to the exercise by the Seychelles government and its defence establishment.

Why did Indian Army and Seychelles Defence Forces troops conduct a landing operation on Praslin Island

Subsequent to the at-sea boarding operations, troops from the Indian Army and the Seychelles Defence Forces conducted a coordinated landing operation on Praslin Island, the second-largest island in Seychelles. The amphibious landing component of the exercise demonstrated the capacity of the joint force to project capability across the Seychelles archipelago, which spans an area of approximately 1.3 million square kilometres of the western Indian Ocean. Praslin Island is approximately 44 kilometres northeast of Mahe, the main island where Port Victoria is located, and is a geographically distinct operational environment from the harbour and open-sea phases.

What is Exercise Lamitiye and how long has India been conducting this bilateral drill with Seychelles

Exercise Lamitiye derives its name from the Creole word for friendship, and its history dates to 2001, when India and Seychelles first conducted the bilateral training exercise. The exercise is biennial, held every two years at the Seychelles Defence Academy. The 2026 edition was the 11th in the series. For the first two decades of its existence, the exercise primarily involved the Indian Army. The 2026 edition marked the first time that all three branches of the Indian Armed Forces participated simultaneously, a change that reflects both the expanded scope of India-Seychelles defence cooperation and the growing emphasis on tri-services integration within Indian military doctrine.

The exercise specifically focused on sub-conventional operations in semi-urban environments, including peacekeeping missions, tactical drills, and field exercises. The inclusion of the Indian Air Force, represented by a C-130 transport aircraft, expanded the logistical and airlift dimensions of the exercise and allowed for more realistic simulation of the kind of joint operations that would be required in a real-world contingency involving the Indian Ocean archipelago.

How does Exercise Lamitiye 2026 align with India’s MAHASAGAR vision for the Indian Ocean Region

The Indian Navy has positioned the port call and exercise within the broader strategic framework of MAHASAGAR, an acronym standing for Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Region. The MAHASAGAR framework articulates India’s intent to serve as the primary security partner and first responder for island and littoral states in the Indian Ocean Region. Seychelles, an archipelagic state of 115 islands in the western Indian Ocean, occupies a position of strategic significance given its location along major Indian Ocean shipping lanes and its proximity to East African coastal states.

India’s strategic posture in the Indian Ocean has evolved substantially over the past decade. New Delhi has deepened defence partnerships with Mauritius, Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Seychelles through a combination of patrol vessel donations, capacity-building assistance, hydrographic cooperation, and joint exercises. The delivery of critical spares and essential stores to the Government of Seychelles during the INS Trikand port call is consistent with a pattern of defence-adjacent assistance that India has used to institutionalise its relationships with Indian Ocean island states. These deliveries serve a dual function: meeting practical operational needs of partner defence forces while reinforcing India’s role as the region’s preferred provider of security-related support.

What strategic significance does Seychelles hold for Indian Ocean security and India’s regional posture

Seychelles sits at a critical confluence of Indian Ocean maritime routes that connect the Persian Gulf, East Africa, and South Asia. The archipelago’s exclusive economic zone covers approximately 1.37 million square kilometres, making it one of the largest maritime jurisdictions relative to land area in the world. The Seychelles Coast Guard, despite its modest fleet, plays a role in monitoring illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, human trafficking, narcotics trafficking, and piracy across this vast maritime space. The joint VBSS training and at-sea boarding operations conducted during Exercise Lamitiye 2026 directly address these functional priorities.

India has maintained a long-standing programme of maritime domain awareness cooperation with Seychelles, including the provision of a Dornier maritime patrol aircraft and a coast guard vessel in previous years. The Indian Navy’s regular presence in Seychelles waters, formalised through exercises and port calls, ensures that Indian naval platforms remain familiar with the operational environment and logistics infrastructure of the archipelago. For Seychelles, close defence ties with India provide both tangible capability and the assurance of a reliable security partner given the asymmetry between the island state’s resources and the scope of its maritime responsibilities.

How does the 2026 tri-services format of Exercise Lamitiye differ from its previous bilateral army-only editions

The expansion of Exercise Lamitiye from an army-centric bilateral drill to a full tri-services exercise represents a structural shift in how India conceptualises its defence engagement with Seychelles. Previous editions focused on infantry skills, counter-insurgency techniques, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations on land. The 2026 format retained the land component through the participation of the Assam Regiment and the amphibious landing on Praslin Island, while adding an at-sea interdiction dimension through INS Trikand and an air component through the Indian Air Force’s C-130 deployment.

This tri-services configuration mirrors the format of more complex Indian bilateral exercises conducted with larger partners such as Exercise Tasman Saber with Australia and Exercise Shakti with France. Applying a similar tri-services architecture to the India-Seychelles exercise signals that New Delhi views its relationship with the Seychelles Defence Forces as meriting the same level of integration and investment as its partnerships with larger naval powers. The participation of Major General Michael Rosette and Brigadier Jean Attala onboard INS Trikand for the sea phase underlines the political and institutional endorsement at the apex of the Seychelles Defence Forces for the expanded format.

Key takeaways on what Exercise Lamitiye 2026 means for India-Seychelles defence ties and Indian Ocean security

• Exercise Lamitiye 2026, held from 9 to 20 March at the Seychelles Defence Academy, marked the first tri-services edition of the bilateral exercise, incorporating the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force alongside the Seychelles Defence Forces for the first time since the exercise began in 2001.
• Indian Naval Ship Trikand, a stealth frigate, participated in the first-ever Indian Navy involvement in Exercise Lamitiye, conducting Visit, Board, Search and Seizure training in harbour and joint at-sea boarding operations with SCGS Le Vigilant and Seychelles Defence Forces Special Forces.
• The delivery of critical spares and essential stores to the Government of Seychelles during the INS Trikand port call reflects India’s sustained programme of practical defence-adjacent support for Indian Ocean island states under the MAHASAGAR strategic framework.
• Major General Michael Rosette, Chief of Defence Forces of Seychelles, and Brigadier Jean Attala, Deputy Chief of Defence Forces, embarked on INS Trikand during the sea phase, indicating high-level institutional endorsement of the expanded exercise format from the Seychelles Defence Forces leadership.
• The tri-services format of Exercise Lamitiye 2026, including an amphibious landing on Praslin Island and an air component via a C-130 aircraft, signals India’s intent to deepen the operational scope of its bilateral defence engagement with Seychelles beyond traditional army-to-army cooperation.