Royal Australian Navy Task Group completes visit to Malaysia and Indonesia

HMA Ships Arunta, Stuart and Sirius, will shortly complete their two and a half month deployment to North, South and South East Asia.
 
Following the recent combined exercise at sea with the French frigate FNS Vendemiaire in international waters off the coast of Vietnam, the Royal Australian Navy Task Group has now detached to conduct further international engagement with our regional neighbours.
 
HMAS Stuart proceeded to Sabah Port in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia where it has just completed a logistics resupply visit.  HMAS Arunta and Sirius have just arrived in Surabaya, Indonesia, for a goodwill visit and participation in a naval exercise with the Indonesian Navy, the TNI-AL.  
 
The visit to Kota Kinabalu by HMAS Stuart will be its second port visit to Malaysia during the current deployment, having first visited Kemaman, where the ship conducted various shore-based interactions with the Royal Malaysian Navy.
 
Commanding Officer of HMAS Stuart, Commander Aaron Nye said “Australia has a long history of engagement with Malaysia and we always welcome the opportunity to visit to enhance our professional and personal relationships”.
 
HMAS Arunta and HMAS Sirius arrived in Surabaya, East Java on 9 November for a port visit and participation in Exercise NEW HORIZON. This exercise is a biennial maritime exercise between the RAN and the TNI-AL. It encompasses a series of combined training activities, such as basic mariner and navigational skills, designed to promote interoperability, professionalism and trust between the naval forces in the maritime domain. 
 
Commanding Officer HMAS Arunta, Commander Cameron Steil said, “As our closest neighbour, both Australia and Indonesia share many common interests, not the least of which is maritime security in our region.
 
“Our relationship with the TNI-AL and Indonesia in general remains one of the most important that we have in this region.”
 
Following their respective visits to Malaysia and Indonesia, the Task Group will re?form before returning to Australia to participate in further exercises closer to home.
 
Overall, the deployment by the Royal Australian Navy Task Group has involved visits to India, Japan, China, South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia and is part of the Navy’s routine regional engagement activities in North, South, and South East Asia.
 
Media note:
Imagery of the activity will be available on 10 November 2015 at http://images.defence.gov.au/S20153098
 
Media contact:
Defence Media (02) 6127 1999