Philippines, Australia to conduct joint navy exercise

The Philippine Navy (PN) is set to conduct a 10-day joint military exercise with the Royal Australia Navy (RAN) off the northern coast, the military said Thursday.

The military said in a statement that the combined naval exercise, dubbed as PN-RAN Exercise LUMBAS 2004, will start Fridayand last till Aug. 30 in the coast of Palawan.

The war games are aimed to enhance the interoperability and operational readiness between the participating forces of the two countries in combined naval operations, the statement said.

According to the military, the Philippine Navy participating forces include a seal team, a fixed wing aircraft and two surface assets while their Australian counterpart, on the other hand, are fielding in two surface assets.

The war game, comprised of five main phases, is basically a maritime surveillance exercise to be conducted within Philippine waters between the Navy units of the two countries, the military said.

The preparation phase, which began on Aug. 10 and will end Thursday, included the material preparations such as the necessary repairs, training of participating ships and the logistics fill-up.

The harbor phase of the exercise, to be held from Saturday to Monday, will include harbor training and tours of participating units, followed by the sea phase, which is to run from Aug. 24 to 27 and consists of a serialized training including seamanship and tactical serials, surveillance and gunnery exercises.

The last phase will include the post-exercise debrief closing ceremony and the return of the units.


source

I'm glad nations are working together, I think one of the reasons is because of the tensions with China. I think the nations near China are coming together because if a war starts there, their gonna have to learn how to work together.




[edit on 11-7-2005 by blue cell]

Come on people, reply! We can get a intresting discussion going!