Tuesday, September 2, 2014

PN AW-109 conducts deck-landing exercise aboard HMAS Sydney

From the Philippine News Agency (Sep 20): PN AW-109 conducts deck-landing exercise aboard HMAS Sydney

An AgustaWestland AW-109 "Power" helicopter, assigned to BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PF-16), conducted successfully landing exercises aboard the flight deck of HMAS Sydney Monday (Australian time).

This is part of the helicopter shipboard exercise of "Kakadu 2014", the biennial naval maneuvers hosted by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).

Ensign John Windy Abing, Philippine Navy public affairs officer, said the activity is part of the PN's efforts to improve its ability in the joint operation ships and aircraft.

Twelve nations are participating in this activity which started Aug. 25 and will end on Sept. 12.

The participating countries with navy ships/aircraft are Japan, New Zealand, Philippines, Pakistan and Australia while Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Thailand, Vanuatu, South Korea, and India deployed personnel as observers.

It is being held at the Northern Australian Exercise Area.

"(The) PN’s participation is expected to enhance its surface warfare capabilities and interoperability with regional navies. It will also be an opportunity for the PN to enhance cooperation, camaraderie, and good working relationship with the participating navies," Abing said.

He said this is the second time the PN has sent its ship to participate since the exercise began way back in 1993.

The first time that the PN sent a ship was in 1999. PN observers were also sent in 2003, 2005, and 2007.

It can be recalled that on March 2014, Alcaraz’s sister ship, BRP Gregorio Del Pilar (PF-15) was also sent to Indonesia to participate for the first time in the Multilateral Naval Exercise codenamed “Komodo” which was participated by 16 countries.

The PN’s participation in multilateral exercises is an affirmation of its commitment in collaborating with other navies to promote peace and stability in the maritime region.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=679511

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