21st CARAT Brunei Wraps Up

A closing ceremony for the 21st annual Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) Brunei exercise was held at Muara Naval Base, Nov. 6.

CARAT is a bilateral exercise series between the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and the armed forces of nine partner nations in South and Southeast Asia, including Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Timor-Leste.

CARAT is an adaptable, flexible exercise. Its scenarios are tailored with inputs from the United States and partner nations to meet shared maritime security priorities, such as counter-piracy, counter-smuggling, maritime interception operations, and port security. The exercise series is also a venue to share the latest best practices in search and rescue, military law and medicine and humanitarian assistance/disaster response (HA/DR).

Highlighting this year’s sea phase, the Royal Brunei Air Force’s Sikorsky S-70i Black Hawk helicopter made deck landings on board Lassen, and a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft conducted maritime domain awareness missions and participated in search and rescue (SAR) and over-the-horizon targeting exercises. Additionally, the expeditionary fast transport ship USNS Millinocket (T-EPF 3) participated in CARAT for the first time during the sea phase, which included a replenishment-at-sea (RAS) approach exercise and tactical maneuvers with vessels from the Royal Brunei Navy (RBN).

During the shore phase, Sailors from Commander, Task Force (CTF) 73, DESRON-7, Coastal Riverine Group (CRG) 1 detachment Guam, Patrol Squadron (VP) 16, Lassen, and Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 51 participated in professional symposia to share best practices in military operations and law, military medicine, public affairs, aviation maintenance and operations, port security and rescue swimming.

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Image: US Navy