Exercise Malabar 2026 has brought the Indian Navy's indigenous guided missile stealth frigate INS Sahyadri to Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan, where the Eastern Fleet ship arrived on Wednesday.

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) gave the ship a warm welcome, the Indian Navy said. Vice Admiral Yagi Koji, Commandant of the Yokosuka District, and R Madhu Sudan, Deputy Chief of Indian Mission, attended the ceremony.

The navies of India, Japan, the United States and Australia are taking part.

Exercise Malabar 2026 to run south of Kanto until 12 November

According to the JMSDF, the exercise will run from 5 to 12 November in the area south of Kanto, the region around Tokyo. The Indian Navy said the harbour phase will cover professional interactions and coordinated planning. INS Sahyadri will then join units of the United States, Australia and Japan at sea.

Japan fields a helicopter destroyer and a submarine

Japan has listed the helicopter destroyer JS Ise, the frigate JS Mogami, a submarine and a P-1 maritime patrol aircraft.

The US Navy will send an amphibious transport dock and a P-8A maritime patrol aircraft. Australia's contribution is the frigate HMAS Stuart and a Royal Australian Air Force P-8A. Both Australian units took part in Keen Sword, the Japan-US exercise that ended last week, according to reports.

Anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare lead the drills

The JMSDF has named two tactical areas, anti-submarine warfare and anti-surface warfare, and said others will be included. The ships will also sail together for a photo exercise.

INS Sahyadri returns to Malabar after Guam last year

The same frigate represented India at Malabar 2025 at Guam in the Northern Pacific. Its sea phase ran from 13 to 17 November and covered anti-submarine warfare, boarding operations, gunnery firing, refuelling at sea and cross-deck helicopter flying. The ships also exchanged sea riders to share practices.

Yokosuka is familiar too. INS Sahyadri called there on 21 October 2025 for the harbour phase of JAIMEX-25, the bilateral exercise with Japan. Madhu Sudan, then Charge d'Affaires at the Indian Embassy, received the ship on that visit as well.

Malabar began in 1992 as a bilateral exercise between India and the United States. Japan became a permanent partner in 2007, and Australia joined in 2020.

Frigate reaches Japan after exercises with Russia and Korea

Exercise Malabar 2026 is the latest stop in a long deployment for INS Sahyadri. The frigate joined the ASEAN-India Maritime Exercise at Subic Bay in the Philippines in late September, then sailed to Vladivostok for Exercise INDRA 2026 with the Russian Navy. Its most recent engagement was the India Korea naval exercise off Busan.

Naval ties were also on the agenda last week, when Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Japan's Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi met in Cebu and discussed joint naval shipbuilding and mine countermeasures.

The Navy said the ship's participation is in line with MAHASAGAR, or Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions.

INS Sahyadri is the third ship of the Shivalik class. It was designed and built in India at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders in Mumbai and was commissioned in 2012.