French Navy Concludes Indo-Pacific Exercise La Perouse 25

The French Navy has concluded the fifth edition of the multinational exercise La Perouse 25.

Nine Indo-Pacific nations participated in the major exercise, which witnessed Mission Clemenceau 25, the French Carrier Strike Group (CSG), led by the Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier deployed in the Indo-Pacific.

The naval exercises were held in the straits between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean: Malacca, Sunda and Lombok. The exercise aim was to collectively train coastal navies to deal with a major maritime crisis in these major straits of the area.

The participating nations included Australia (destroyer HMAS Hobart), Canada (destroyer HMCS Ottawa), the US (LCS USS Savannah), India (INS Mumbai), Malaysia (frigate FFG Lekir and embarked helicopter, vessel Gagah Samudera), UK (OPV HMS Spey) and Singapore (patrol vessel RSN Independence). Indonesia provided base support on land for the French CSG’s Atlantique 2 MPAs.

The first phase of the exercise took place in the Strait of Malacca, where a French CSG air defense frigate and Malaysian and Singaporean units trained in the area, where more than 85,000 ships transit per year. The other nations took part in the exercises in the Sunda Strait and then Lombok Strait.

The participating navies trained on their ability to act collectively in the event of a maritime crisis and undertook complex and advanced multi-domain exercises including surface warfare, anti-air warfare, air-defense, cross deck landings and tactical maneuvers, and also Visit, Board, Search and Seizure (VBSS) operations.

Over the course of the exercises, participating navies trained in the use of IORIS, a communication and coordination system dedicated to the exchange of information, documents that allow a collective response to a maritime crisis in a synchronized manner.