Australia hands over command of Combined Task Force 150 to the French

The Aus­tralian com­mand of coali­tion mar­itime oper­a­tions in sup­port of counter-ter­ror­ism oper­a­tions in the Gulf region of the Mid­dle East has passed to the French Navy.
Com­modore Greg Sam­mut of the Roy­al Aus­tralian Navy hand­ed over com­mand of Com­bined Task Force 150 (CTF 150) to Rear Admi­ral Jean-Louis Kerig­nard of the French Navy on 4 April at a cer­e­mo­ny in Bahrain.

Com­modore Sam­mut said it was a per­son­al priv­i­lege to have been entrust­ed with Australia’s sec­ond com­mand of CTF 150. 

“The close coop­er­a­tion, pro­fes­sion­al­ism and ded­i­ca­tion of the many par­tic­i­pat­ing nations remain the foun­da­tions of the suc­cess of CTF 150,” Com­modore Sam­mut said. 

“I am very grate­ful for the sup­port of our Com­bined Mar­itime Force part­ners and region­al friends in pro­mot­ing secu­ri­ty and sta­bil­i­ty through­out the area of operations. 

“The Aus­tralian Defence Force takes pride in con­tribut­ing to coali­tion efforts to main­tain mar­itime secu­ri­ty in such a vital region for the sta­bil­i­ty and eco­nom­ic pros­per­i­ty of the world at large.” 

Over the past six months, the Roy­al Aus­tralian Navy team has planned and exe­cut­ed oper­a­tions con­duct­ed by a range of ships and air­craft from CTF 150 con­tribut­ing nations. There has also been valu­able inter­ac­tion and coop­er­a­tion with region­al nations which has strength­ened rela­tion­ships between navies and fur­ther enhanced secu­ri­ty in the mar­itime environment. 

The prin­ci­ple mis­sion of CTF 150 is to deter, dis­rupt and defeat attempts by inter­na­tion­al ter­ror­ist organ­i­sa­tions to use the mar­itime envi­ron­ment as a venue for an attack or as a means to trans­port per­son­nel, weapons and oth­er mate­ri­als asso­ci­at­ed with ter­ror­ism. CTF 150 ves­sels also assist mariners in dis­tress and under­take human­i­tar­i­an work as required. 

CTF 150 is a multi­na­tion­al task force. Par­tic­i­pat­ing nations have includ­ed: Aus­tralia, Cana­da, Den­mark, France, Ger­many, Italy, Repub­lic of Korea, Nether­lands, New Zealand, Pak­istan, Por­tu­gal, Sin­ga­pore, Spain, Turkey, the Unit­ed King­dom and the Unit­ed States. 

Press release
Min­is­te­r­i­al Sup­port and Pub­lic Affairs,
Depart­ment of Defence,
Can­ber­ra, Australia 

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