Malabar Naval Exercise 2020

Current Context: The Navies of India, the United States, Japan and Australia have begun the four-day-long Malabar naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal.

• The Phase-I of the exercise will be held from 3rd Nov to 6th Nov 2020 in the Bay of Bengal.
• The Phase-II of the exercise will be held from 17th Nov to 20th Nov 2020 in the Arabian Sea. 
• India’s side will be represented by: Destroyer Ranvijay, frigate Shivalik, off-shore patrol vessel Sukanya, fleet support ship Shakti, submarine Sindhuraj, advanced jet trainer Hawk, long-range maritime patrol aircraft P-8I, Dornier maritime patrol aircraft and several helicopters.
• Whereas, US Navy Ship USS John S McCain which is the Guided-missile destroyer, Australian Navy Ship HMAS Ballarat which is the long-range frigate and Japan’s Maritime Self Defence Ship named as Ship JS Onami will be participating in the drill. 
• In the first ongoing phase of the exercise, complex and advanced naval drills like anti-submarine and anti-air warfare operations, cross deck flying, seamanship evolutions and weapon firing will be witnessed by the navies. 
• Static Part: Malabar Exercise: It was started in 1992 as a bilateral exercise between the Indian Navy and US Navy. Japan became a permanent member of this drill form 2015. This is the first time where the Quad member nations are participating in the exercise together after 2007.  

Question: 

Q.1 Among which nations are Malabar Naval Exercise for 2020 was observed?
a. India and Russia
b. India, Australia, US and Japan
c. India, Sri Lanka and Australia 

d. India and France