The Japan Coast Guard Patrol Vessel Shikishima (PLH 31) and its Super Puma helicopter search for a simulated target ship carrying weapons of mass destruction along Australia’s coast during Exercise PACIFIC PROTECTOR. Photo by AB Neil Richards, RAN

[PACIFIC PROTECTOR] sends a message to all of those who may contemplate the transfer of WMD or their precursors that there is a committed global movement that is going to make every effort to stop them.
The Honorable Alexander Downer
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Australia

The Australian Customs Vessel Botany Bay participates in Exercise PACIFIC PROTECTOR. Photo by AB Neil Richards, RAN

PACIFIC PROTECTOR is the first of a series of 10 new anti-proliferation exercises being planned. Although initially centered on maritime operations, the series will encompass all WMD proliferation routes, with land and air interdiction exercises.

Proliferation Security Initiative

The growing scale of potential WMD threats by international terrorists and rogue states prompted the U.S. to lead a new initiative – the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) – to impede the flow of WMD and their associated delivery systems to and from suspected proliferating nations. WMD include nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and their delivery systems, such as missiles.

The exercise is the direct outcome of the PSI signed by 11 nations after President Bush unveiled the initiative in Krakow, Poland, in May 2003. Two subsequent meetings, in Madrid, Spain, and Brisbane, Australia, established the ground rules. A meeting in Paris in September 2003 set up the exercises. The first exercise was meant to send a message to countries currently accused of illicit arms trading and smuggling.

The SK50 Sea King helicopter flies between the HMAS Success (OR 304) and the target ship, while service members from the Japan Coast Guard Patrol Vessel Shikishima (PLH 31) conduct a search for mock weapons of mass destruction. Photo by AB Neil Richards, RAN