USS Curtis Wilbur in exercise Pacific Protector
7th Fleet Release
Release Date: 9/15/2003
Office of Senator the Hon. Robert Hill, Minister for Defense, Australia
USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG 54) participated in the major maritime interdiction training exercise Pacific Protector, which began Sept. 13.
A U.S. Coast Guard law enforcement detachment boarding team and the Japanese Coast Guard patrol vessel Shikishima also joined the exercise.
The exercise took place in the Coral Sea off Queensland's central coast and involved about 800 military and law enforcement personnel from around the globe, Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill said.
Exercise Pacific Protector was the first in a series of maritime, air and land interdiction training exercises agreed to by members of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) meeting in Paris last week.
Senator Hill said the exercise involved personnel from Australia, the United States, Japan and France. Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom were invited to send observers.
"The aim of the exercise is to practice intercepting, boarding and searching vessels suspected of illegal trafficking in weapons of mass destruction, their delivery systems and related materials," Senator Hill said. "Exercise Pacific Protector will further improve our capabilities to conduct actual maritime interdiction operations in partnership."
Senator Hill visited the exercise, which started with aerial searches for a simulated Japanese-flagged commercial merchant vessel suspected of carrying WMD-related items. Combined military and law enforcement assets from the four participating nations trailed the vessel. The Japan Coast Guard, working with French, US and Australian counterparts, requested and executed a boarding and search of the vessel on the high seas. The scenario ended after the seizure of its WMD-related cargo.
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