Naseem Al Bahr 2026, the 15th edition of the India-Oman bilateral maritime exercise, is under way at Muscat, with the Indian Navy's guided missile destroyer INS Surat taking part alongside the Royal Navy of Oman.

The ship arrived on Sunday. The exercise runs until Wednesday, according to the Indian Navy, and will be followed by a Coordinated Patrol (CORPAT) between the two navies.

INS Surat arrives at Muscat for harbour and sea phases

The programme is split into a harbour phase and a sea phase. Planned activities include cross-deck visits, operational interactions and sporting events. According to the Ministry of Defence, these will give personnel of both navies a chance to exchange experiences and best practices, improve interoperability and build mutual understanding.

Naseem Al Bahr 2026 keeps the series name, which translates as Sea Breeze.

The Ministry of Defence described the visit as part of a long maritime partnership between the two countries and placed it under MAHASAGAR, the Government's vision of Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions.

Naseem Al Bahr 2026 builds on talks in New Delhi

The exercise follows the 13th meeting of the India-Oman Joint Military Cooperation Committee, held on 24 November 2025, the ministry said.

Navy-level contact has continued since. The two navies held the 8th edition of their Staff Talks in New Delhi on 27 and 28 October. Commodore Kartik Srimal, Commodore (Foreign Cooperation), Indian Navy, and Commodore Ahmed Juma Salim Al Khatri, Director General of Operations and Plans, Royal Navy of Oman, co-chaired the talks. The agenda covered operational engagements, training, information sharing and hydrographic cooperation, according to the Indian Navy.

Fifteen editions since 1993

The exercise series began in 1993 and is now held every two years. The 13th edition was conducted off Oman in November 2022. The 14th edition was held off Goa from 13 to 18 October 2024, when INS Trikand and a Dornier maritime patrol aircraft exercised with the Royal Navy of Oman vessel Al Seeb.

Second Indian Navy ship in Oman in under a month

INS Surat's call comes three weeks after the sail training ship INS Sudarshini visited Salalah from 14 to 17 October during her Lokayan 26 voyage, with professional and sporting engagements with the Royal Navy of Oman.

INS Surat is the last of the Visakhapatnam class

INS Surat, pennant number D69, is the fourth and final destroyer of Project 15B, the Visakhapatnam class, built by Mazagon Dock Limited in Mumbai. She was commissioned at Naval Dockyard Mumbai on 15 January 2025 together with the frigate INS Nilgiri and the submarine INS Vaghsheer, the first time a destroyer, a frigate and a submarine joined the fleet on the same day.

The Gulf is familiar ground for her. In February she called at Bahrain and interacted with the Combined Maritime Forces, the multinational naval partnership headquartered there. The Indian Navy went on to command the partnership's training task force, Combined Task Force 154, from February until the CTF 154 handover in Manama in October.