KOTA KINABALU: The Royal Malaysian Navy personnel participated in Operational Sea Training Exercise East (Ostex East) to improve their readiness for wartime situations.
Starting on Nov 15 and ending on Monday (Nov 27), the exercise took place in the South China Sea and Sulu Sea and involved a total of eight Navy vessels, supported by helicopters and Scaneagle unmanned aerial system (UAS) operated by the 601 Squadron.
The Royal Malaysian Air Force, through the Region Two Air Base in Labuan, also participated by deploying its Hawk fighters and maritime surveillance aircraft to support the exercise.
In the second series of the exercise, Navy personnel engaged in five phases: the docking phase, Force Integration Training (FIT), Hot Wash Up (HWU), War Exercise (Warex), and post-exercise phase.
The phases aimed to enhance the navigation skills, maritime knowledge, and warfare capabilities of the navy personnel, while also training them to create, manage, and maintain tactical communications during a maritime operation.
Naval Area 2 Commander Rear Admiral Khir Junaidi Idris led the closing ceremony of the exercise onboard the ship KD Sri Tawau on Sunday (Nov 26).
At the start of the exercise on Nov 17, Khir emphasized the importance of full commitment and striving for excellence in skills to maintain the Navy’s professionalism.
He also stressed the significance of feedback from previous exercises in order to maintain the Navy’s maritime operation preparedness, with the 3P elements (people, platform, and process) remaining essential in every exercise implementation, whether on land or sea.
To this end, Khir expressed the Navy’s commitment to maintaining the alertness of its community and assets through continuous training.
