Australian Navy Frigate arrives in Japan for bilateral and trilateral maritime exercises

Aus­tralian Navy Frigate arrives in Japan for bilat­er­al and tri­lat­er­al mar­itime exer­cis­es The ANZAC-class Guid­ed Mis­sile Frigate, HMAS Bal­larat, arrived in Japan yes­ter­day on the final stage of its North East Asian deploy­ment after com­plet­ing a suc­cess­ful series of exer­cis­es with the mar­itime forces of both Chi­na and Korea.

The Anzac Class Frigate HMAS Bal­larat has arrived in Kure, Japan, ahead of her par­tic­i­pa­tion in the bi-lat­er­al anti-sub­ma­rine war­fare exer­cise Nichi Gou Tri­dent. Source: Aus­tralian Depart­ment of Defence Click to enlarge

Here you can find more infor­ma­tion about:  Defense Expen­di­ture in Aus­tralia to 2015 — Mar­ket Siz­ing and Fore­casts: Mar­ket Profile Home­land Secu­ri­ty Expen­di­ture in Aus­tralia to 2016: Mar­ket Review The Aus­tralian Defense Indus­try – Mar­ket Oppor­tu­ni­ties and Entry Strate­gies, Analy­ses and Fore­casts to 2016  The Japan­ese Defense Indus­try – Mar­ket Oppor­tu­ni­ties and Entry Strate­gies, Analy­ses and Fore­casts to 2016

After a short port vis­it to the city of Kure, HMAS Bal­larat will par­tic­i­pate in the Australian–Japanese bilat­er­al Exer­cise Nichi Gou Tri­dent 2012 from 4–6 June 2012. 

Bal­larat will be joined by a Roy­al Aus­tralian Air Force AP3‑C Ori­on mar­itime patrol air­craft and the Japan­ese Guid­ed Mis­sile Destroy­er, JS Shi­makaze from the Japan­ese Mar­itime Self Defence Force (JMSDF). A JMSDF sub­ma­rine will also par­tic­i­pate in this year’s exer­cise for the first time, demon­strat­ing the strong com­mit­ment of both coun­tries towards improv­ing mar­itime secu­ri­ty in the region. 

The com­bined mar­itime exer­cise will take place in waters south­east of Japan’s Kyushu Island. The exer­cise aims to fur­ther devel­op inter­op­er­abil­i­ty in all facets of naval oper­a­tions com­mon to both navies, with par­tic­u­lar focus on com­plex Under Sea War­fare, Mar­itime Inter­dic­tion Oper­a­tions and oth­er core mariner skills activities. 

On com­ple­tion of the bilat­er­al exer­cise, the Aus­tralian and Japan­ese forces will then be joined by the Unit­ed States Navy (USN) for the tri­lat­er­al exer­cise, Pacif­ic Bond 2012 where the USN will con­tribute air­craft, ships and a sub­ma­rine. This exer­cise will again focus on Under Sea War­fare and seek to fur­ther improve inter­op­er­abil­i­ty between all the three navies with­in the region. 

Ballarat’s Com­mand­ing Offi­cer, Com­man­der Jonathan Ear­ley said, “these series of exer­cis­es reaf­firm our deep com­mit­ment towards region­al engage­ment and inter­est in mar­itime security. 

“They also rep­re­sent excel­lent oppor­tu­ni­ties for the Roy­al Aus­tralian Navy to fur­ther hone our high-end war­fare skills with Navies who share mar­itime inter­ests sim­i­lar to ours”. 

HMAS Bal­larat is now close to the end of a four month deploy­ment through South and North East Asia. HMAS Bal­larat returns to Syd­ney in June. 

Press release
Min­is­te­r­i­al Sup­port and Pub­lic Affairs,
Depart­ment of Defence,
Can­ber­ra, Australia