Warships from 13 countries completed an anti-piracy and counter-terror naval exercise in the Indian Ocean on Friday 08 March 2013.
The AMAN-13 exercise, which took place in Pakistani territorial waters from 04-08 March, was aimed at improving the operational capability of Naval Forces in ensuring maritime security and fighting sea piracy and terrorism threatening navigation and trade.
A total of 24 warships, 25 aircraft and special operation forces from Pakistan, Turkey, the United States, Britain, United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, Italy, China, Bangladesh and Australia took part in the exercise in the Arabian Sea.
Another 20 countries, including Russia, have sent their observers.
The last day of exercises included formation flying, refueling at sea, an anti-piracy demonstration and surface firing.
Starting at 11:40 Karachi Time, helicopters from Pakistan, China, Turkey and Australia, transport planes from Japan as well as battle planes from Pakistan conducted formation flying one by one.
After that, the Pakistan Navy comprehensive supply ship PNS NASR performed the refueling of two frigates at the same time. The PNS NASR was built at China's Dalian shipyard in 1987. Her name is the Arabic word for “help”.
Subsequently, the special unit of Pakistan Navy conducted an anti-piracy demonstration. After a speedboat fired flares to notify the helicopter of the accurate location of a ship which had been hijacked by pirates, a helicopter and speedboat carrying special unit soldiers arrived soon afterwards.
They undertook an air landing, board the ship and soon took hold of the vessel after clashing with the pirates.
The last item of the exercise was surface firing. Two frigates from Pakistan and China's missile destroyer “Harbin” conducted the drill and successfully hit the floating targets in the designated area.
Finally, 18 ships from 13 countries passed by the PNS NASR, the primary ship of the naval drill, in queue to receive approval from General Khalid Shamin Wynne, the Pakistani chief of the Joint Chiefs Staff Committee of Pakistan, together with other naval officers and observers from the 36 countries that participated in this five-day-long international naval drill.
Initiated and organized by Pakistan, the “Aman” exercise has been held every other year since 2007. AMAN is the Urdu word for “Peace”.
Source: China News; Anadolu News
