NEW DELHI, Sept. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- For the second consecutive year the United States is sending a nuclear-powered submarine for a major naval exercise with India to be conducted in the Arabian Sea,the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) reported Wednesday.

    Exercise Malabar 04, to be held off the Konkan coast in early October, will see seven frontline warships and submarines of the Indian and US navies practicing advanced anti-submarine warfare and anti-terrorism operations.

    "In order to streamline interoperability and derive maximum training value for such exercises, the two navies have also evolved standard operating procedures, which would be tested during the exercise," the IANS quoted Indian Navy spokesman Commander Vinay Garg as saying.

    This is the sixth in the Malabar series of maneuvers since 1992 and the third such war game held by the two navies since India andthe United States resumed defense ties after the 1998 nuclear tests by New Delhi.

    "The Malabar series of exercises are regularly conducted as part of enhanced cooperation between the two navies," said Garg.

    He said the thrust of this year's exercise would be on anti-submarine warfare, sea control missions, fleet air defense, surface firing, maritime interdiction operations and VBSS (visit, board, search and seizure) operations.

    Besides the USS Alexandria, a Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered submarine armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles, the US Navy will field the guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens, the frigate USS Garyand P3C Orion patrol aircraft.

    The Indian Navy will deploy a Delhi-class destroyer, a Brahmaputra-class guided missile frigate, a HDW submarine, a replenishment tanker, TU-142 long-range patrol aircraft and ship-based helicopters.

    The India-US exercise is being held at a time when New Delhi is considering proposals from Malaysia and Singapore for joint patrolling of busy sea-lanes of communication. Enditem