PH Navy ships in Thailand for ASEAN naval exercise

The Philippine Navy  (Photo: PHILIPPINE NAVY/ Facebook)

MANILA — BRP Tarlac (LD-601) and the BRP Gregorio Del Pilar (FF-15), the country’s participants to the ASEAN Multilateral Naval Exercises 2017 (AMNEX), have arrived and docked at the Chuk Samet Port in Chonburi District, Thailand Monday.

The first-ever multilateral naval exercise conducted by ASEAN is scheduled from November 13 to 22.

Capt. Donn Anthony L. Miraflor, Naval Task Group 80.5 Commander, said BRP Tarlac, the Philippine Navy’s largest vessel to date, is carrying an AgustaWestland AW-109 combat utility helicopter.

All 10 ASEAN member states and nine non-ASEAN countries will be participating in the naval drills which will be held at Sattahip and Pattaya Bay in Thailand.

Miraflor said the exercises are in conjuction with the International Fleet Review hosted by the Royal Thai Navy The PN contingent headed by Commodore Albert A. Mogol of the Fleet-Marine Ready Force.

Aside from the officers and enlisted personnel of the two naval ships, the PN contingent consist of the Naval Task Group 80.5, Naval Special Operation Group, Civil-Military Operation, Medical, Dental, Naval Chaplain, Naval Education and Training Command students, Fleet Training and Doctrine Center and Marine Corps Development Center, reservist civilian observers and other support components.

“The PN’s participation in AMNEX 2017 conveys the Command’s commitment in promoting multilateral in cooperation in the ASEAN community leading to the strengthening of relationship and cooperation among regional and extra regional navies,” Miraflor added.

“Further, it provides a platform on how the PN and other navies in the region can cooperate and work altogether to address shared maritime securities and develop maritime operational capability from the basic to advance level at the multilateral scale to increase readiness and interoperability,” he pointed out. (with reports from Christoper Lloyd T. Caliwan/PNA)