US Navy Joins Piracy Battle
The United States and six other nations kicked off a five-day naval exercise Monday aimed at combating piracy and other crimes in Southeast Asia’s heavily trafficked waters, reports Stars and Stripes. The Singapore-based Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training Exercise, or SEACAT, comes as piracy appears to be increasing in the South China Sea, where trillions of dollars in global trade transit annually. SEACAT focuses on regional cooperation to address shared maritime security challenges like smuggling, piracy and other illicit activities at sea, by bringing together liaison officers (LNOs) from Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and the United States to collaborate and execute practical maritime responses to multiple realistic scenarios.
MSC Ships Deliver Military Cargo to Thailand
Two Military Sealift Command ships delivered hundreds of pieces of U.S. Marine Corps equipment and containerized supplies to Thai ports in late January as preparations ramped up for Exercise Cobra Gold 2009, the major multi-national exercise scheduled for Feb. 4 - 17 in Thailand. Cobra Gold is a regularly scheduled joint and coalition multinational exercise hosted annually by the Kingdom of Thailand. Armed forces from Singapore, Japan, Indonesia and the United States are participating.
U.S., Australian Expeditionary Staffs, Ships Begin 1st Phase of Talisman Saber
The U.S. Navy's Expeditionary Strike Group 7 ships left Brisbane, Australia, on June 10, while amphibious ships of Royal Australian Navy began the embarkation of Australian soldiers in northern neighbor Townsville, launching the force integration training (FIT) phase of Talisman Saber 2007 (TS07). TS07 is a joint and combined exercise demonstrating and improving on the U.S.-Australian military alliance that will feature crisis action planning and the execution of contingency response operations in land, sea and air maneuvers. More than 20,000 U.S. and 12,000 Australian personnel will participate in the military training exercise set to enhance interoperability and regional stability.
Coast Guard Tsunami Exercise Begins May 23
The U.S. Department of Transportation in cooperation with Federal, State, local, and Canadian partners will host PACIFIC PERIL 06 from May 23-23 at Camp Rilea on the NW Oregon Coast. The three-day event will consist of a "training day" presenting earthquake and tsunami hazards and response plans, a full day Command Post Exercise (CPX) and a final table top review. The exercise play postulates a catastrophic seismic event that triggers a massive tsunami that devastates Pacific coastal communities from British Columbia to northern California. The Government of Canada, including the Province of British Columbia and the City of Vancouver, are also engaged in exercise play.
Pollution Response Team to Conduct Training in Juneau
A multi-agency pollution response training event will be conducted in the Juneau area during this week from May 13-15. The exercise is being coordinated under the Preparedness for Response Exercise Program, which has established requirements for periodically exercising oil spill response contingency plans throughout the country. A joint exercise team, consisting of local oil spill response planners, has been meeting to plan this exercise since January. A specialized team of Coast Guard exercise planners from the National Strike Force Coordination Center in North Carolina facilitated the team throughout the planning process. The Juneau Delta Western facility volunteered to participate as the lead industry planner for the exercise.
