Australian Navy Seizes Drug Haul in Middle East
The crew of the Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Warramunga have spent the Christmas season hard at work, spending nearly three days seizing almost eight tonnes of hashish and 69 kilograms of heroin from drug smugglers while conducting maritime security operations in the Arabian Sea. Warramunga intercepted and boarded three suspect vessels between 27 and 29 December 2017, in an operation planned and coordinated by the Combined Maritime Forces’ Combined Task Force 150 which is currently commanded by Australia—supported by a combined Australian-Canadian staff. The illegal drug haul is the largest quantity of hashish seized by an Australian ship on Middle East maritime security operations with the overall haul estimated to be valued at around AUD$415 million.
Multi-Nation Naval Exercise in Australia
Warships from Australia, Italy, New Zealand and Spain are currently exercising off the Western Australian coast honing war-fighting skills and enhancing joint operating procedures. The multi-national maritime task group, consisting of more than 17 ships and aircraft, is encountering fictitious threats from the air, on the surface and underwater to train personnel with skills they need in battle. Amphibious giant, HMAS Adelaide is the Command and Control platform and is the floating office for the Officer Conducting the Exercise and Commander of the Task Group, Commodore Mal Wise. He said that the exercise was an opportunity to take the…
Australian Warship Visits Canada Naval Base
The visit by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) ANZAC Class frigate coincided with Canada’s Victoria Day. A contingent of HMAS Perth sailors were honoured to march ahead of the Royal Canadian Navy at the annual Esquimalt Victoria Day Parade. The RAN and the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) have a long history of serving and training together. RAN and RCN ships served during the Korean War, in support to East Timor, and have been longstanding participants the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise series, the largest maritime exercise in the world.
Small Boats Provide Links to Local Maritime Community
The guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain (CG 57) moves thru the Bay of Bengal after making a port call in Singapore. Lake Champlain is part of the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group, currently deployed in support of the global war on terrorism and maritime security operations (MSO). U.S. While there is a ring of steel around the Iraqi oil terminal platforms in the Northern Persian Gulf, small rubber boats with special boat crews do much of the heavy lifting for security and stability in the area. Coalition ships move continuously around the Al Basra Oil Terminal and the Khawr al Amaya Oil Terminal, and each sends out small boat crews aboard rigid-hulled inflatable boats to conduct VBSS (visit, board, search and seizure) missions. "They are the 'beat cops' for the area," said Capt.
