Asia Pacific Defense Forum Winter 2004

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USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG 54) proceeds to the target ship.
Photo by AB Neil Richards, RAN

The 11-member PSI group issued a statement specifically naming countries suspected of proliferating dangerous technology. The U.S. State Department warned that a country aggressively proliferating missiles and related technology might find itself targeted by the new program to interdict vessels delivering such weapons and systems. Australian Prime Minister John Howard, the host of the second PSI meeting in Brisbane in July 2003, also announced that Australia would host the PSI's first multilateral maritime interception exercise.

Australia Exercise Host

Australia hosted the three-day exercise in September in the Coral Sea near the coast of Queensland. Australia contributed the frigate HMAS Melbourne (FFG 05), the Australian Custom vessel Botany Bay, and Coastwatch surveillance aircraft. U.S. participants were the destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG 54), with a U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment Boarding Team, and the USNS Private Franklin J. Phillips (T-AK 3004), used as the target vessel. The Japan Coast Guard patrol vessel Shikishima (PLH 31), with a Special Boarding team, and a French Guardian Maritime Patrol aircraft completed the multinational force.

Exercise Scenario

The scenario involved intercepting a ship suspected of carrying chemical weapons. The ship’s exercise name was the fictional Japanese-flagged freighter MV Tokyo Summer, a role played by the USNS Private Franklin J. Phillips.

As host for PACIFIC PROTECTOR, the Australian Minister for Defence, Senator the Hon. Robert Hill, observes exercise activity with Royal Australian Navy SMNBM Douglas Kidd onboard the HMAS Melbourne (FFG 05).
Photo by AB Neil Richards, RAN

The exercise began early in the morning with aerial searches by crews of Australian and French surveillance aircraft, who located the Tokyo Summer and notified the crew of the Shikishima. The Shikishima pursued the Tokyo Summer for more than two hours before ordering the suspect ship to stop. A Japan Coast Guard Special Boarding Team then repelled from two Super Puma helicopters onto the Tokyo Summer and stopped it. This enabled an inspection team from the Shikishima to board and search for weapons. The exercise ended after the pursuers seized the mock WMD-related cargo.

Following the exercise, Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said the exercise “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.”

As the PSI moves forward, members will try to involve all countries that have the will and ability to take action to address this threat, especially countries that are key vessel flagging countries, coastal or transit states, or countries that are used by proliferators in their WMD and missile trafficking efforts. Future exercises will take place in the Indian and Mediterranean Oceans.

The aim of the exercise is to practice intercepting, boarding, and searching vessels suspected of illegal trafficking in weapons of mass destruction, their delivery systems, and related materials.
Senator the Hon. Robert Hill
Minister for Defence, Australia

A Super Puma helicopter from the Japan Coast Guard Patrol Vessel Shikishima (PLH 31) hovers above the USNS Private Franklin J. Phillips (T-AK 3004), which served as the simulated target ship, to allow Coast Guard members to rappel on to its flight deck and conduct a search for weapons of mass destruction.
Photo by AB Neil Richards, RAN

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