Pakistan, Malaysian navies hold Malpak II drill: spokesman

F.P. Report

KARACHI: Pakistan Navy carried out bilateral exercise Malpak II in Arabian Sea with Malaysian Navy, a Navy spokesman said on Saturday.

The Malpak II exercise comprised of the harbour and sea phase, a spokesman of Pakistan Navy said.

Pakistan Navy’s ship Saif and helicopters participated in the Malpak exercise II.

PNS Azmat and long-range maritime aircraft also participated in the drill, the Navy spokesman said.

In the sea phase the sea-to-sea and sea to air targets were exercised.

The search and rescue operations were also part of the drill the Navy spokesman added.

In a previous exercise counter piracy drills were also carried out in which boarding teams demonstrated practical boarding operations onboard a suspect vessel.

The exercise proved mutually rewarding to hone professional skills of participating personnel from both navies and learn from each other’s experiences.

Pakistan Navy had also held Turgutreis-III drill with Turkish Navy after successfully holding Aman-2019 exercise recently.

The bilateral naval exercise will further promote bilateral defence relations, the spokesman said.

Malaysian Navy earlier also participated in AMAN-2019, a multinational naval exercise hosted by Pakistan from Feb. 8 to 12 in the Arabian Sea.

The biennial maritime exercise kicked off in Karachi with the participation of forces from Malaysia, Turkey, the U.S., Britain, China, Australia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Oman.

The exercise was intended to improve naval coordination between participant states and promote maritime peace and stability.

The first AMAN drill was conducted in 2007. Since then, it has been held regularly every two years.

Pakistan Navy Ships also regularly participate in the biennially held LIMA exhibitions/exercises at Langkawi to promote friendship and interoperability with Malaysia and other regional countries.