ASEAN navies conduct interactive exercises at sea

Ship 015-Tran Hung Dao of the Vietnam People's Navy participated in all the categories and performed well as the commander of 2 categories in tactical group 2 (Marlin), contributing to the overall success of AMNEX-2.

During the exercise, 9 ships and 4 helicopters from the host country's Navy, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Brunei and Vietnam were divided into 2 tactical groups: Barracuda and Marlin. The exercise scenario was based on a hypothetical situation where a distress signal was sent from a passenger ship carrying a large number of passengers (684 people) in distress at sea. Under the command of the Philippine Navy ship, the Navy ships of ASEAN countries coordinated and cooperated to search and rescue the distressed ship.

According to the hypothetical scenario, the ships search together, detect the ship in distress, then participate in handling situations such as searching for people on the ship in distress who have fallen into the water, the ship on fire, medical evacuation (rescue injured victims and take them to the rescue ship or use a helicopter to take the victims to the nearest hospital for emergency treatment...) On that basis, the ships in the tactical groups perform the following drills: Checking communication between ships, taking photos of the formation from the air, searching for maritime rescue, decoding electricity, light signals, marching at night in formation, landing helicopters on ships, and intercepting maritime traffic.

Ship 015-Tran Hung Dao and other ships in the formation must continuously maneuver within the 30x30 nautical mile exercise area, ensuring close adherence to the formation while participating in searching, detecting targets, reporting to the command ship and performing the contents according to the exercise scenario. Each ship performs a task in specific situations and takes turns commanding the sections. Participating in the sea rescue content (the situation of a passenger ship on fire), the Vietnamese ship calculated to approach the ship in distress at a distance of 100m, using a high-powered water cannon to spray at the ship in distress to extinguish the fire, and supporting other ships to evacuate the victims onto the ship. The Singaporean ship participating in the rescue and picking up people who fell into the water were mannequins symbolizing the victims. The Brunei ship brought the injured onto the rescue ship to perform first aid on the victims. The host ship, the Philippines carry out medical evacuation by helicopter to the nearest hospitals…

In the maritime search and rescue exercise led by the Brunei ship, any ship that detects a target that has fallen into the water must report to the command ship so that the ship can be mobilized to promptly rescue the victim. In the night exercise, the ships will operate in formation under the command of the Singapore ship and continue to scout and search for victims.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Ma Nguyen Thanh, Captain of Ship 015-Tran Hung Dao, the intensity of the exercise is therefore relatively intense. All ships must participate in the search and detect all the victims, only then will they meet the requirements of the exercise scenario. The exercise lasts both day and night. The crews must continuously change shifts, especially the observation positions on the side, working at high intensity to promptly detect targets and warn of the risk of collision at sea, reporting to the captain to maneuver the ship in accordance with tactical intentions while ensuring maritime safety.

Ship 015-Tran Hung Dao promptly responded to the requirements of the command ship of the category, maneuvering in the correct direction, distance and speed specified in the formation, ensuring time standards, maritime safety and smooth communication.

The Vietnamese ship commanded two sections of continuous electric and light signal decoding from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. During this time, the ship was ready to handle incidents and unexpected situations such as a ship having technical problems and unable to continue following the formation. At that time, the command ship, through command commands in MTP tactical shorthand, had to command the ship to leave the formation to fix the problem. "The command ship of the section must ensure the safety of the formation, promptly warn of collision risks, quickly calculate the approach plan to the target after receiving the target detection report from the tactical group member ship and mobilize the ship to approach to perform rescue, ensure maritime safety", according to Lieutenant Colonel Pham Anh Tuan, Head of the Staff Officer Group.

Notably, AMNEX-2 also practiced communication and connection scenarios with the Information Sharing Center (IFC) in Singapore. The IFC, with modern satellite positioning equipment, will support and share information with ships during the exercise, providing information about the search target such as location and coordinates of the distressed ship, etc.

The AMNEX-2 exercise scenario was built close to the real-life situation that ASEAN countries must respond to together, in the context of the region's increasing challenges and threats to maritime security and safety as it is today. AMNEX-2, with its professionally, meticulously and uniformly constructed items between the ASEAN Navies and the exercise results meeting the set objectives, has contributed to promoting cooperation, improving the ability to coordinate and interact between the navies of the countries in the region to respond to challenges to maritime security and safety.