Myanmar Conducts Sea Sheild-2022 Naval Exercise off Rakhine Coast

07 Juli 2022

Sea Shield 2022 naval exercise (all photos : GNLM)

THE Tatmadaw is taking the Tatmadaw (Army, Navy and Air) exercises to thoroughly defend the sovereignty of the State and territory and to ensure strong and dynamic defence capability. This year’s Sea Shield-2022 is being taken with the participation of submarines Minye Theinkhathu and Minye Kyaw Htin from the Tatmadaw (Navy) in the Myanmar seas off the coast of Rakhine State as of 1 July.

Yesterday, Chairman of the State Administration Council Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Senior General Min Aung Hlaing inspected the military exercises.

On arrival at the war vessel (UMS Mottama) in the Bay of Bengal to inspect the war vessels in the exercise, the Senior General was welcomed by senior military officers from the military exercises. Those senior military officers reported on the aim of the exercise and the participation of war vessels including submarines and helicopters as an above and underwater exercise.

In his response, the Senior General said that as the Tatmadaw is taking a leading role to defend all parts of the territory of the State, all Tatmadaw members need to have security knowledge and awareness.

They have to effectively utilize the information with the defence outlook. War vessels from the exercises in the single line formation drove past the Senior General.

As the VBSS exercise, war vessels found a suspect foreign commercial vessel passing the Myanmar waters. War vessel UMS Mottama asked the vessel facts and informed it about receiving inspection under the ROE. But, the suspect vessel did not stop to accept inspection. So, Navy Seals conducted the Visit, Board, Search and Seizure procedure aboard the suspect with the use of an anchor launcher. They performed the inspection of documents, investigating crew members, cabins, cargo house and engine room. In inspection, they found the suspect vessel carried illegal cargoes. So, Navy Seals seized the suspect vessel as a training pattern.

Then, Frigate UMS Hsinbyushin and Frigate UMS Kyansittha performed the CASEX A-2 exercise to conduct joint surveillance of submarines. The war vessels in the exercise changed the battle line formation to attack the targets of the enemy at the sea in the marine enemy defence operation zone and totally assaulted targets of enemies with heavy weapons.

The Senior General aboard the war vessel UMS Mottama viewed the practical firing of torpedos, naval artilleries and machine guns to the above and underwater enemy targets after completion of the operation on defending a range of submarines and the submarine operations.

The Senior General delivered a speech to the officers and other ranks who participated in the exercises. Officers and other ranks from submarine UMS Minye Theinkhathu and submarine UMS Minye Kyaw Htin and other war vessels took the speech aboard war vessel UMS Mottama.

Speaking on the occasion, the Senior General said the naval exercises were conducted as the naval and air force joint military exercises in 2009. These exercises improved year by year. Moreover, the nature and characteristics of exercises were thoroughly performed year after year. These exercises aim to enable Tatmadaw members to have friendliness with battlefields and have skills to utilize the power of the weapons. Only when participants in the exercise have good morale and capabilities will an exercise be successful. Although the naval exercises were held as naval and air force joint operations in the past, the Tatmadaw (Navy) has been upgraded to the three-dimensional combat-ready navy at present. Last year’s exercise used only one attack submarine. This year’s exercise used two different types of submarines to have a great exercise experience.

The Senior General went on to say that Myanmar possesses some 1,300 miles of coastal line with more than 144,000 square miles of water territory. Hence, the Tatmadaw (Navy) alone cannot cover the vast water territory. At present, the Tatmadaw (Navy) is being upgraded to become the Three Dimensional Combat Ready Navy to fully protect the specific economic zone of Myanmar seas for the first phase. He said that to become a naval troop with combat power, the Tatmadaw (Navy) must have the readiness of war vessels, readiness of weapons and systems and readiness of naval men similar to the Tatmadaw (Army).

Hence, it is not enough for operating capable war vessels in a three-dimensional operation arena but all need to always take training for combat readiness without forgetting the three readiness.

The Senior General presented gifts for officers and other ranks from the exercises to the naval division commander. The commander-in-chief (Navy) presented the honorary emblem of the Sea Shield-2022 to the Senior General. The Senior General and party left the war vessel UMS Mottama by helicopter.

Then, participants joined the exercises on battle damage assessment, RAS, fire fighting and damage control, search and rescue and towing.

The Sea Shield-2022 was successfully conducted with the participation of 20 war vessels including frigates, submarines and helicopters from the Tatmadaw (Air) amid the bad monsoon season at the exercise area.

(Myanmar National Portal)