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.
The joint exercise will included more than 100 U.S. sailors and personnel from all these countries. SEACAT did its first anti-terrorism exercise in 2002, and has expanded the program to include piracy and smuggling.
The exercise comprises two main elements - a multilateral command post exercise (CPX) and a bilateral field training exercise (FTX) - that are conducted concurrently.
Meanwhile, participating naval officers will receive simulated reports of suspicious activity in the Straits of Singapore and Malacca, the Andaman Sea and the South China Sea in order to run simulated response tactics.
Rear Adm. Charlie Williams, Commander, Task Force 73, said: "SEACAT is a great venue for multiple nations to come together in a realistic training environment and work through a number of real-world maritime security challenges. This multilateral cooperation enhances readiness so we can better coordinate our response during contingencies and crises."
