Australien/Indonesien — Navy patrol boats undertake joint exercises with Indonesian Navy

Aus­tralia and the Repub­lic of Indone­sia are strength­en­ing mar­itime ties as a result of EXERCISE CASSOWARY 2010 (CA10), a joint naval oper­a­tion between the two coun­tries which start­ed on 8 May 2010.

HMAS Broome, seen from HMAS Pirie, enroute to Indone­sia to take part in Exer­cise Cas­sowary 2010 Source: Aus­tralian Depart­ment of Defence Click to enlarge

CA10 is a bilat­er­al Indone­sian Defence Force led com­bined patrol boat exer­cise, designed to enhance inter­op­er­abil­i­ty in mar­itime oper­a­tions between the Indone­sian Navy (TNI-AL) and the RAN. 

Two Armi­dale Class Patrol Boats, HMA Ships Broome (Assail Two) and Pirie (Assail six) have been under­tak­ing a num­ber of mar­itime activ­i­ties with the TNI-AL ships KRI Untung Suropati and KRI Ker­a­pu and will arrive in Dar­win for the post sea phase part of the exer­cise on Sat­ur­day 15 May. 

Accord­ing to the Com­mand­ing Offi­cer of HMAS Broome Lieu­tenant Com­man­der (LCDR) Bar­ry Learoyd RAN, “a key part of Australia’s nation­al strat­e­gy for defence is to pro­mote region­al sta­bil­i­ty. This is achieved through a wide vari­ety of mea­sures, one of the most impor­tant of which is through exer­cis­es like CASSOWARY 2010.” 

“By devel­op­ing an effec­tive mil­i­tary rela­tion­ship with Indone­sia, Aus­tralia can strength­en its nation to nation ties, which is essen­tial to our region­al secu­ri­ty,” said LCDR Learoyd. 

Dur­ing the exer­cise, which began in Kupang Indone­sia, the patrol boats have under­tak­en a num­ber of exer­cis­es in com­mu­ni­ca­tions, tac­ti­cal manoeu­vres, board­ing oper­a­tions, small boat trans­fers and dam­age control. 

Until the exer­cise con­cludes on 18 May, Dar­win will be host­ing approx­i­mate­ly 100 mem­bers of the TNI-AL who will also be vis­it­ing a num­ber of local attrac­tions and enjoy­ing its famous hospitality. 

Accord­ing to LCDR Learoyd, the impor­tance of Indone­sia as a key strate­gic part­ner for Aus­tralia has been increas­ing in recent years. “The RAN enjoys a sol­id and deep­en­ing rela­tion­ship with the TNI-AL and we are com­mit­ted to devel­op­ing even greater prac­ti­cal coop­er­a­tion between our forces in years to come.” 

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