Harbour Phase News

Across late October and early November, Royal Australian Navy frigates HMA Ships Melbourne and Parramatta visited the Republic of Korea for the biennial maritime anti-submarine warfare exercise HAEDOLI WALLABY. Arriving alongside in Busan, Australian personnel and their Korean Navy counterparts commenced the harbour phase of the exercise, enhancing mutual understanding and cooperation through a series of table-top briefings, damage control demonstrations, practical scenarios and a game of soccer. Marking the exercise opening, the Commodore Warfare, Commodore Ivan Ingham, highlighted how the exercise reinforces the importance Australia places on strengthening strategic dialogue and training, as well as capability and defence materiel cooperation with its North Asia partner.

Naval cooperation between India, US and Japan epitomises the strong and resilient relationship between the three democracies. The MALABAR series of exercises, initiated in 1992 between the Indian and US Navies, have steadily grown in scope, complexity and participation into a multifaceted exercise with the participation of Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF). The 21st edition of the exercise, MALABAR-17 will be conducted in the Bay of Bengal from 10 to 17 July 2017. The primary aim of this exercise is to increase interoperability amongst the three navies as well as develop common understanding and procedures for maritime security operations.

HMAS Newcastle’s capabilities proved invaluable during a complex warfare scenario involving Indian Navy Ships Shivalik and Kamorta during the Australia-India Exercise (AUSINDEX) held off the Western Australian coast. The ships headed out to sea, after a short harbour phase, to focus on the navies’ interoperability and improvement on their war fighting skills. Speaking from the bridge of Newcastle, Commanding Officer Commander Mark Sirois said AUSINDEX was an excellent opportunity to see both navies working together. “I had a good conversation with the commanding officers of the Indian warships and they were extremely impressed with the professionalism of our sailors.

As part of "SIMBEX-17’, the ongoing Bilateral Naval Exercise between Navies of the Republic of Singapore and India, lndian Naval Ships Shivalik, Sahyadri, Jyoti and Kamorta and one P8-I Maritime Patrol and Anti-Submarine Warfare Aircraft are participating. While INS Sahyadri and INS Kamorta are at Singapore since 12 May 2017, INS Shivalik and INS Jyoti would be joining directly for the sea phase of the exercise. The ships are under the command of Rear Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta, YSM, VSM, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet. SIMBEX is an acronym for “Singapore-India Maritime Bilateral Exercises”. Bilateral cooperation between Singapore and India was first formalised when RSN ships began training with the Indian Navy in 1994.

Over 1,200 military personnel from the Asia Pacific and Indian Ocean regions have completed collaborative, tactical warfare planning during the first week of the Royal Australian Navy’s largest maritime exercise, KAKADU 2014, informs Australia's Defence Force (ADF). From 25 – 29 August 2014, the Harbour Phase of KAKADU 2014 saw regional navies work side by side in Darwin to plan major warfare serials for the next sea phases of the exercise. Exercise Director, Captain Heath Robertson, said the deliberate planning and briefings between ships, aircraft and staff focussed on high-end warfare. “Continued improvement of shared skills, understanding and ultimately interoperability ensures safety and efficiency in real time operations.

Royal Australian Navy submarine, HMAS Sheean, has been hunted from the air and sea as part of Exercise Bersama Shield off the Malay Peninsular. Exercise Bersama Shield is designed to enhance the interoperability of Five Power Defence Arrangement member nations. Australian Defence Force (ADF) elements have joined with forces from Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom for the exercise, which started on 22 May to and concluded yesterday. Commanding Officer of Sheean, Commander Richard Smallwood, said the submarine provided a number of air and sea training opportunities for the contributing nations. “We work closely to test not only our own abilities to avoid detection but to help air and sea assets search,” he said.