Exercising with our Allies - Bersama Padu
06 October 2006
By LT Chris Mills
Exercise Bersama Padu provided opportunities for the RNZN boarding teams to exercise Maritime Interdiction Operations with other Five Power Defence Arrangements navies. The MV Kendrick was a chartered vessel hired specifically for HMNZS Te Kaha's joint boarding team to practise on. It allowed the frigate's personnel to set the scene on the MV KENDRICK - stashing illegal weapons, preparing the crew, and anything else required to test the skills of the boarding team.
The RNZN is well-respected when it comes to conducting boardings, and this meant Te Kaha could share its way of doing things with the Singaporean and Malaysian Navies, who had combined with Te Kaha's boarding team for the exercise. Te Kaha led the exercise , with personnel from the New Zealand frigate leading the boarding party.
Six Singaporeans and five Malaysians were transferred to Te Kaha by boat for their introductory brief. LT Mills and POSCS McIntosh gave the briefing, covering broad- brush procedures, and then finer details. LT Mills, accompanied by other boarding officers, conducted the command boarding brief on the bridge. The ship's Commanding Officer and the Boarding Officer examined every detail of the exercise. On completion, the team disembarked and make its way to the “suspect” vessel.
On board MV Kendrick, communications with Te Kaha were tested. When all its members had gathered the team split into its designated roles: one section headed to the bridge, the security team gathered the crew together, and the sweep teams searched Kendrick.
On the bridge the team met the Master of the vessel, (one of Te Kaha's Singaporean counterparts who was role-playing for the day.) He provided details on the exercise but the real Master of the vessel was there as well, to continue real-life command of the vessel. This was a great opportunity for Te Kaha's personnel to practise building rapport with a Master of a foreign vessel. Kendrick's Master was Russian-born, and had been living and working out of Singapore for a number of years. In an actual boarding, this rapport would help boarding officers spot any inaccuracies in stories, and help determine if there was suspicious activity. The security team also aims to build rapport with the crew for the same reason.
After checking the vessel's paper work, “boxes” of AK-47s and Surface to Air Missiles (SAMs) were discovered on and abaft of the bridge. These were placards aimed at imitating weapon caches for the exercise. After the formal searches and questioning, different boarding procedures were discussed. The Singaporean boarding teams are far more formal than the New Zealanders. They are very careful when approaching crew members and are wary about getting within a few feet. They also do not talk to the crew, and carry out their search procedures with little or no interaction. POSCS McIntosh and POET Bailey showed the Singaporean teams aspects of the New Zeraland Navy boarding gear and techniques.
The Malaysians don’t have a set procedure for boarding, but the officer involved in the exercise said he followed similar guidelines to New Zealand; relaxed and informal with the intention of gleaning information from the crew to aid in their questioning and searches. It is thought the reason for the disparity between NZ, Malaysia and Singapore is the real threat that exists in and around Singapore, consequently making them more wary.
After completing the boarding of MV Kendrick the Master and his crew were thanked before the New Zealanders disembarked and headed back to Te Kaha for a debrief. POSCS McIntosh spoke about the various elements and details of what makes up a New Zealand boarding, including why neither long weapons (such as rifles or shotguns) nor flak jackets (bullet-proof vests) are used, and the reasons for the different attitude towards the crew and Master.
Following the debrief the Singaporeans and Malaysians were boat-transferred back to their respective ships. Before they went they were thanked for attending the boarding, and told this was a great idea for the future. The three teams of exercise participants agreed on the value of joint operations, which increase interoperability, particularly in light of the increase of asymmetric threat and piracy in the Asia-Pacific region and around the world.
Ends