"We want to show them our capabilities," Indian naval chief Admiral Arun Prakash said of the January 9-14 event, which will include ships from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

India will deploy two of its latest guided missile-carrying corvettes and other assault ships while Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar will send two warships each and the remaining four navies will field one, officials said.

Australia also plans to send a delegation to the event, which will involve "limited wargames" off the Andaman and Nicobar island chain, said lieutenant general Aditya Singh, India's chief military commander of the archipelago.

The event "will allow us closer military exchanges with navies of these nations as well as lead to interaction across a wider canvas than just exercises," he said.

It is the fifth such naval exercise in India's maritime zone since 1995.

India called off the exercises in 2004 and instead rushed 25 of its warships and 5,000 military personnel to help 50,000 islanders after the tsunami crashed into the archipelago's 36 inhabited islands.

"It was the biggest-ever peacetime operation conducted by us and we would be proud to share our experience," Prakash told reporters in the remote island of Car Nicobar, where the tsunami wrecked India's most strategic airbase in the Indian Ocean.

The exercises "will exhibit the speed with which we sprung back into action in these strategic waters after the tsunami," said a top naval officer who asked not to be named.

India Navy spokesman Vinay Garg said the six-day event would also involve strategy sessions.

Experts from the nine nations would discuss subjects such as the marine environment and anti-piracy measures in the Andaman Sea, which is one of the world's busiest maritime energy transportation lanes, Garg said.

"Discussions on multinational patrols of exclusive economic zones and disaster relief are also on the agenda," he said.

The Indian navy on November 24 wrapped up week-long wargames held jointly with the airforce and army.

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