Sri Lanka Naval Ship Gajabahu has left for India to take part in the first BIMSTEC Maritime Security Exercise, a seven-nation drill hosted by the Indian Navy from October 30 to November 3.

The departure was reported by NewsFirst at 8.47 a.m. on Monday.

Who is taking part

Naval forces and coast guard agencies from all seven BIMSTEC member states are expected to participate: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Two of those — Bhutan and Nepal — are landlocked, so the exercise will bring together a membership whose maritime capacity varies widely.

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation has existed since 1997 and groups five South Asian states with two in Southeast Asia. Its agenda has historically run to trade, connectivity and technology rather than defence. A joint maritime exercise is a notable widening of that remit, and the word inaugural is doing real work here: this is the grouping’s first.

What the exercise is for

The Indian Navy has set three stated aims: enhancing maritime domain awareness, improving operational coordination in the Bay of Bengal region, and strengthening regional maritime security cooperation.

Maritime domain awareness — knowing what is moving across a body of water and why — is the thread that connects the rest. The Bay of Bengal carries a large share of the region’s seaborne trade and is a route for smuggling, irregular migration and illegal fishing. Those are problems no single navy can see whole, which is the standard argument for exercises of this kind.

The ship

SLNS Gajabahu is one of the Sri Lanka Navy’s largest vessels, carrying the pennant number P626. Sending it rather than a smaller patrol craft signals the weight Colombo is placing on the exercise.

Where this sits in Sri Lanka’s naval calendar

Sri Lanka has been a steady participant in multinational naval exercises. The island took part in CARAT 2026 with the United States in July, and separately the Sri Lanka Navy has been expanding engagement with regional partners. BIMSTEC’s own institutional presence in Colombo grew in September with the technology transfer facility established in the city.

The exercise also comes as the Bay of Bengal is being crossed by Cyclonic Storm Arnab, which the India Meteorological Department expects to make landfall on the Andhra Pradesh coast on October 28 — two days before the exercise begins. The reports do not say whether the storm affects the schedule.

Not reported

The filing does not give the departure port, the Indian port or sea area hosting the exercise, the date Gajabahu is due to arrive, or the number of ships and personnel involved. It does not say which units the other six states are sending, nor whether the exercise includes live-firing, boarding drills or search-and-rescue serials.

Sourcing note: this report rests on a single verified newsroom. The Daily Mirror’s breaking-news listing was checked directly and had not filed on the departure at the time of writing. Ada Derana has been unreachable from this desk for 45 days. A Sinhala report on itnnews.lk corroborates the departure and its date, but that outlet is not among this desk’s verified newsrooms and is not cited.

Sources: SLNS Gajabahu departs for India for inaugural BIMSTEC-2026 maritime exercise — NewsFirst, October 26.