The navies of the United States, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand are participating in the annual, multilateral Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training (SEACAT) exercise. The Bangladesh Navy will be participating as observers. This year’s exercise, staged from Singapore's Changi Naval Base from 5 to 9 October 2015, marks the 14th in the series.
The exercise participants will receive simulated reports of suspicious activities in the Straits of Singapore, the Straits of Malacca, the Andaman Sea and the South China Sea in order to practise simulated response drills.
The U.S. ships and aircraft participating in the exercise include USNS Amelia Earhart (T-AKE-6, a dry cargo ship), USNS Safeguard (T-ARS-50, a rescue and salvage ship), a P-8A Poseidon and a P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft. Participating in SEACAT for the first time is the joint high-speed vessel, USNS Millinocket, an Expeditionary Fast Transport.
USNS Millinocket in Vietnam, earlier in August. U.S. NAVY
The Exercise SEACAT series started in 2002 with the aim of enhancing maritime cooperation. Participating navies share information and coordinate maritime security responses to scenarios such as piracy and maritime terrorism. The Republic of Singapore Navy's Changi Command and Control Centre (CC2C) at Changi Naval Base is the key infrastructure facilitating such cooperation.
The CC2C is specially equipped for information-sharing with various secured and open information networks. The CC2C houses the Information Fusion Centre (IFC) which was inaugurated on 27 Apr 2009. The information-sharing systems include the Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS), Regional Maritime Information Exchange (ReMIX), the Malacca Strait Patrols Information System (MSP-IS) and other sense-making systems. Navies from regional groupings such as the WPNS and Malacca Straits Patrols were invited to attach International Liaison Officers (ILOs) to the IFC. These ILOs play an important role as they facilitate information sharing and better coordination when responding to maritime threats.
Last month, a Singapore warship disrupted a sea robbery on a Malaysian tugboat in the Straits of Singapore. The sea robbers attempted to evade arrest by speeding into Indonesian territorial water. The IFC officers were able to coordinate responses with the Indonesian Navy's Western Fleet Sea Security Group and the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency. Both countries deployed their naval assets to search for the robbers. Three robbers were subsequently arrested and the stolen cargo was recovered. This incident highlighted the close cooperation between the regional navies and maritime enforcement agencies as well as the utility of the IFC.
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