3 US warships sailing to Palawan for naval exercises

MANILA, Philippines - Three warships from the United States Navy (USN) are dropping anchor in the island province of Palawan on Tuesday for this year’s launching of the joint Philippines-US Naval war exercises aimed at further developing maritime security capabilities of the two nations’ naval forces.

Aside from two missile-guided destroyers – USS Chung-Hoon (DDG-93) and USS Howard (DDG-83) and a diving and salvage ship USNS Safegurd (T-ARS 50), 800 US sailors are also participating in the 17th joint holding of the Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT), a naval war games that would be held within the maritime domain of the Philippine Navy’s Naval Forces West.

These US sailors as well as their other military assets that will be participating in the CARAT with their Filipino Navy counterparts, are composed of US Navy Seabees, representatives from the US Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Team (MSST), the US Navy Mobile Security Squadron, a US Navy Riverine Force and Medical Support personnel.

CARAT would be held in the nearby waters of the West Philippine Sea where tension has been mounting for weeks now due to China’s aggressiveness in asserting its territorial claim over the entire region which the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and Taiwan are also claiming in whole or in part.

“This year marks the second time in recent years that CARAT has been held in Palawan. The exercise was held in Puerto Princesa in 2008; in 2009, the exercise was held in Cebu, and in 2010 at Subic Bay,” said US Navy Capt. David Welch, commander of Task Force Group 73.1 and the commander for the Phl-US CARAT exercise on the US side.

Ashore training includes Visit, Board, Search and Seizure (VBSS) exercises; diver training; salvage operations; joint medical, dental and civic action projects, and aircrew familiarization exchanges.   

Welch said there will also be symposia on operations planning, search and rescue practices, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions, interagency cooperation and public affairs. 

The at-sea phase of CARAT focuses on developing maritime security capabilities in areas such as maritime interdiction, information sharing, combined operations at sea, patrol operations and gunnery exercises, to include the anti-piracy and anti-smuggling exercises.

“The US and Philippine navies have a long history of working together, and exercises like CARAT provide a great venue for us to hone our skills and increase our interoperability,” said Welch.

CARAT is a series of bilateral military exercises between the US Navy and the Armed Forces of Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Additionally, Vietnam participates in a CARAT-like event known as Naval Exchange Activity (NEA).

Middle of this month a US Navy-supervised joint Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) naval exercises dubbed SEACAT (South East Asia Cooperation Afloat Training) was also simultaneously held in Sulu Sea, Celebes Sea and in Malacca Strait with warships from the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand taking part.

Meantime, Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez urged the government yesterday to shop for more modern patrol vessels equipped with missiles to protect its territory from intruders. – With Jess Diaz, Alexis Romero, Pia Lee-Brago