Australia — Kakadu 2010 draws to a close

After 19 days of intense train­ing as part of Exer­cise KAKADU, 12 vis­it­ing Navy ves­sels from four dif­fer­ent coun­tries will farewell Dar­win as the Exer­cise draws to a close.

Dar­win, and the waters off her coast, has been home to eight Roy­al Aus­tralian Navy ves­sels and four for­eign ships that par­tic­i­pat­ed in Exer­cise KAKADU, which aimed to devel­op coor­di­nat­ed mar­itime oper­a­tions in an inter­na­tion­al environment. 

Exer­cise Direc­tor of KAKADU 2010, Cap­tain John Vandyke, was delight­ed with the out­comes of KAKADU this year. 

“Exer­cise KAKADU has pro­vid­ed an invalu­able train­ing oppor­tu­ni­ty for the Roy­al Aus­tralian Navy and vis­it­ing Navies to work togeth­er and build our effec­tive­ness when we oper­ate togeth­er in the areas of mar­itime oper­a­tions and secu­ri­ty,” said Cap­tain Vandyke. 

The Roy­al Aus­tralian Navy host­ed naval forces from Sin­ga­pore, Thai­land and Japan. Roy­al Malaysian Naval offi­cers par­tic­i­pat­ed as part of Exer­cise Con­trol staff. Exer­cise KAKADU was also observed by rep­re­sen­ta­tives from India, Indone­sia, Papua New Guinea, Philip­pines, France and Repub­lic of Korea. 

Par­tic­i­pat­ing naval forces were sup­port­ed by the Roy­al Aus­tralian Air Force, the Roy­al New Zealand Air Force and a Japan­ese Mar­itime Self Defense Force air detachment. 

Exer­cise KAKADU pro­vid­ed grad­u­at­ed train­ing activ­i­ties and weapons prac­tices, which cul­mi­nat­ed in sim­u­lat­ed war­fare at sea that test­ed the effec­tive­ness of par­tic­i­pat­ing forces. 

“The par­tic­i­pa­tion of two sub­marines made it a great oppor­tu­ni­ty for the ships to fur­ther enhance their skills at anti-sub­ma­rine oper­a­tions, while also pro­vid­ing excel­lent train­ing for Aus­tralian sub­mariners,” said Cap­tain Vandyke. 

Dur­ing KAKADU the ships and sub­marines were test­ed on their abil­i­ty to react and deal with many dif­fer­ent mar­itime sce­nar­ios, while increas­ing their abil­i­ty to oper­ate effec­tive­ly with oth­er Navies. 

“It has been a very busy and intense peri­od for the ship’s com­pa­nies and air crews involved in KAKADU as they have been chal­lenged by the exer­cise sce­nar­ios. Every­one involved has per­formed very well and has gained valu­able train­ing and expe­ri­ences,” said Cap­tain Vandyke. 

“As always, the peo­ple of Dar­win and North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry have been excep­tion­al hosts to us, and I thank them for their sup­port dur­ing Exer­cise KAKADU,” he said. 

Dur­ing Exer­cise KAKADU the Roy­al Aus­tralian Navy was rep­re­sent­ed by the Replen­ish­ment Ves­sels HMA Ships Sir­ius and Suc­cess; three ANZAC Class Frigates HMA Ships War­ra­munga, Arun­ta and Toowoom­ba; two sub­marines, HMA Ships Dechaineux and Collins; and an Armi­dale Class Patrol Boat HMAS Albany. Aus­tralia was also rep­re­sent­ed by Roy­al Aus­tralian Air Force assets, includ­ing AP-3C, F‑111 and Hawk Fight­er Aircraft. 

Defence Media Liai­son (02) 6127 1999 or 0408 498 664 

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

Face­book and/or on Twit­ter