US-led SEACAT exercise ends

MANILA, Philippines — The United States-led 20th annual Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training (SEACAT) exercise concluded on Friday following 10 days of in-person and at-sea engagements that enhanced collaboration among Indo-Pacific partners and focused on shared maritime security challenges of the region.

At least 21 nations, including Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, New Zealand, Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste, United Kingdom, United States and Vietnam, participated in the exercise.

SEACAT is a multilateral exercise that brings together partner nations, interagencies, international and non-government organizations to provide mutual support and common goal of addressing crises, contingencies and illegal activities in the maritime domain using standardized tactics, techniques and procedures.

Ashore, the exercise involved a command post exercise at Singapore’s Changi Naval Base that served as a centralized hub for information sharing in the tracking of contracted merchant vessels simulating suspicious vessels of interests (VOIs) in seas throughout Southeast Asia.

Capt. Tim LaBenz, deputy commander of Destroyer Squadron 7 (DESRON 7), served as the officer in tactical command, overseeing the operations in Singapore.