CARAT Provides Significant Training Opportunities For Thai, U.S. Navies
Navy NewsStand
Story Number: NNS090710-11
Release Date: 7/10/2009 5:44:00 AM
By Lt. Ed Early, Commander, Task Group 73.5 Public Affairs
SATTAHIP, Thailand (NNS) -- Southeast Asia's only aircraft carrier will be the centerpiece of a combined afloat training schedule for the armed forces of Thailand and the U.S. during the 15th annual Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) exercise, which began July 8.
This year, CARAT Thailand will feature a new training platform in HTMS Chakri Naruebet, flagship of the Royal Thai Navy and the only aircraft carrier in the region. The Spanish-built Chakri Naruebet launches and recovers S-70B helicopters and AV-8S Matador jets.
Chakri Naruebet and other Royal Thai Navy ships will join U.S. Navy ships for exercises in skill areas involving surface and air defense gunnery operations, undersea warfare, casualty evacuation, diving and salvage and logistics management.
Additionally, there will be tactical scenarios where U.S. and Royal Thai Navy ships operate together in teams.
Ashore, U.S. and Royal Thai Marines will conduct land-based survival training, live-fire exercises and mechanized warfare training, as well as combined amphibious landing exercises originating from U.S. and Royal Thai Navy ships.
During the opening ceremony for CARAT Thailand here, Vice Adm. Komin Komutanon, Royal Thai Navy deputy commander in chief, welcomed the opportunity for the RTN and Royal Thai Marine Corps to work once again with their U.S. counterparts.
"The Thai Navy has found this exercise very beneficial for enhancing the skills and experience of participating personnel," Komin said. "This is why we commit significant forces to this exercise each year, because it is one of the key activities that maintains a continuous good relationship between the U.S. and Royal Thai Navies."
U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission to Thailand James Entwistle also spoke at the ceremony and underscored CARAT's role in reinforcing long-standing relations between the two countries.
"Exercises like CARAT are critical to ensuring our interoperability," Entwistle said. "It is a clear sign of the U.S. commitment to this region, and it contributes significantly to bilateral relations between the U.S. and Thailand, which are celebrating 175 years of friendship."
Since 1995, the CARAT bilateral exercise series has provided the U.S. and six other Southeast Asian nations – Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia – the opportunity to exchange knowledge and expand and sharpen maritime security through shared training, equipment and manpower.
Ships and aircraft from both Thailand and the U.S. comprise the combined CARAT task group, under the leadership of Royal Thai Navy Rear Adm. Chaiyot Sunthornnak, Commander, Frigate Squadron 2, and Commodore William Kearns III, Commander, Task Group 73.5.
Task Group 73.5 consists of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49), guided-missile destroyer USS Chafee (DDG 90), guided-missile frigate USS Crommelin (FFG 37) and rescue-salvage ship USNS Safeguard (T-ARS 50).
Other units participating in CARAT Thailand include P-3C Orion and SH-60 Seahawk aircraft, U.S. Navy Seabees, a U.S. Coast Guard training team and a U.S. Navy mobile security squadron.
Kearns is embarked aboard Harpers Ferry, which operates from Sasebo, Japan, as part of the 7th Fleet's Forward Deployed Naval Forces. Kearns' staff is based in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Approximately 1,600 U.S. personnel will take part in CARAT 2009.
For more news from Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training, visit www.navy.mil/local/carat/.
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