SANDAKAN: The presence of Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) warships in the Operational Sea Training Exercise (OSTEX) East shows that the armed forces is always in a state of readiness to ensure the security of the nation’s waters.
In a statement, the RMN’s Naval Region 2 headquarters (MAWILLA 2) said the success of the exercise also proved that the fleet’s assets meets the maritime operations needs of the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (EssZone).
“The exercise also had a positive impact on the maritime community in the east coast (of Sabah), in particular their confidence in the armed forces’ ability to ensure peace and security in waters here, with the presence of RMN vessels in the Sulu Sea.
“OSTEX East was also successful in ensuring the capabilities of MAWILLA 2 assets in facing any possibility and testing the standard operating procedures already in place,” the statement said.
The exercise was carried out between Dec 3 and 10 and was divided into two phases — a port phase at the Sandakan naval base and a sea phase in the Sulu Sea.
The port phase involved an exercise for the defence of the Sandakan naval base while the sea phase involved eight ships: The auxiliary ship KA Tun Azizan, KD Todak, KD Yu, KD Sri Tiga, KD Sri Gaya, KD Sri Johor and KD Sri Perlis.
The sea phase also saw the involvement of the Tun Sharifah Rodziah forward sea base and involved exercises in mine laying, maritime science, weaponry, communications and maritime warfare tactics.