Publication:Navy Annual 2005/Kakadu VII
BY LIEUTENANT PETER REKERS, RANR
With over 1700 Defence personnel from six nations and around 600 Airforce personnel, not to mention numerous invaluable support elements from Navy Systems Command, KAKADU was always going to be a big challenge.
The biggest naval exercise of the year was exercise KAKADU VII, the region's premier multinational maritime exercise.
The KAKADU series is part of a long-running program of wider regional confidence-building measures, which aims to foster a practical increase in interoperability with each of the participating nations. The exercise aims specifically to improve preparedness, interoperability and mutual understanding.
The exercise consists of a number of situations where the participating ships can act as part of a unified fleet defending themselves against air and subsurface attacks, then dividing into opposing forces to exercise full combat scenarios against air, surface and submarine units. The 17-day exercise brought together defence personnel from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. There were also observers from the navies of India, France, the Republic of Korea, Thailand, the Philippines and Japan.
"Exercise KAKADU provides extremely valuable training for the Australian Defence Force as we build goodwill and mutual understanding with regional defence forces", Maritime Commander, RADM Davyd Thomas, AM, CSC, RAN said. "The Royal Australian Navy has repeatedly proven its high level of skill and professionalism, and exercises such as KAKADU help to maintain and improve our preparedness and capability".
Under the leadership of CAPT Steve McDowall, DSM, CSM, RAN the Royal Australian Navy's contribution was made up of six vessels, with another seven visiting ships, to form the biggest and best KAKADU Task Group to date.
HMAS Kanimbla was the exercise control and aviation support platform hosting the Task Group Command Team and a detachment from 816 Squadron. The Anzac class frigate HMAS Ballarat, the Adelaide class frigate HMAS Adelaide, the patrol boat HMAS Warrnambool and the submarine HMAS Farncomb, all supported by replenishment tanker HMAS Westralia, made up the Australian Naval force.
Visiting ships included two Victory class corvettes from Singapore, two Pacific class patrol boats from Papua New Guinea, two Malaysian guided missile frigates and an Indonesian frigate. New Zealand deployed a P3K Orion aircraft for the exercise and provided valuable staff to the Command element.
The RAAF deployed 22 aircraft including F-111s, F/A-18 Hornets, AP-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft and Hawk Mk127 fighters.
The highly successful exercise set new benchmarks for naval skills, defence cooperation and general training across all Navy facets.
"After months of planning, the exercise really came down to the skills, dedication and enthusiasm of all participants," said CAPT Steve McDowall, DSM, CSM, RAN the Commander Task Group. "The exercise promised to be the best KAKADU yet and I believe we achieved previously unattained levels of professionalism and interoperability," he said.
"I was very lucky to have a first class team, who worked their hardest to make this exercise a huge win for everybody involved and the Asia Pacific Region" said CAPT McDowall, DSM, CSM, RAN. "This is actually a most complex exercise and I was delighted by the enthusiasm and commitment of everyone involved."
CDRE Peter Lockwood, DSC, CSC, RAN Commodore Flotillas said, "We're building more than just an efficient coalition, we are building strong and valuable friendships. As a coalition we worked, observed, and then applied the lessons we learnt to our training with gusto. The result is the strengthening of our military capabilities, skill levels and hence a safer region."
