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Summary
Indian and French navies are holding their annual bilateral naval exercise, 'Varuna 2010,' in the Arabian Sea off the coast of India's western Goa.The joint naval war games that began on Friday focus on tackling the threat of piracy. The harbour phase of the exercise will be held till January 11 and the sea phase will be conducted thereafter in the Arabian Sea till 14th January 2011, said officials. The Indian Navy has brought the aircraft carrier INS Viraat, two indigenous frigates INS Godavari and INS Ganga and one Shishumar class submarine, INS Shalki. The French Navy was represented by ships from the French Carrier Strike Group, designated Task Force 473 and mainly based at Toulon in France. It includes the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, destroyers FNS Forbin and FNS Tourville, supply ship FNS Meuse and nuclear powered submarine FNS Amethyste. Till date, eleven such exercises have been conducted. The last exercise, 'Varuna 2009,' was conducted off Brest in France.
