CMF: Aircraft and Ship Help Protect Middle East Sea Lanes

In March the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) and partner nations once more demonstrated the strength of working together to maintain secure and stable sea lanes in the Middle East waterways.

In support of Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150) maritime security and counter-terrorism operations, aircraft from New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States and the United States Coast Guard Cutter (USCG) Aquidneck recently joined forces to conduct a coordinated surveillance patrols plan in the northern portion of the CTF-150 Area of Operations.

For this coordinated evolution, a Royal Navy Sea King helicopter and a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 Orion maritime patrol aircraft were patrolling the designated search area to take routine reconnaissance pictures of maritime activity. The information was then passed ashore to CTF-150 Battle Watch for analysis and, if required, to direct USCG Aquidneck to intercept any suspicious vessels.

Image: CMF