China will hold joint naval and air drills with Russia in Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk this month, along with the two countries carrying out a joint maritime patrol in the Pacific, announced China’s Ministry of National Defense on Monday.
Over the weekend, Japan Maritime Self Defense Force tracked a four-ship People’s Liberation Army Navy surface action group likely making its way to the exercise. In other developments, the Royal Australian Navy began its multinational naval exercise Kakadu 2024 in Darwin, Australia on Monday.
“According to the annual plan and the consensus between China and Russia, the Russian military will send naval and air forces to participate in the Northern/Interaction-2024 exercise to be held by China in the relevant seas and airspace of the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk in September,” read a China MND release on Monday. The PLAN and Russian Navy will carry out their fifth joint maritime patrol in the Pacific Ocean, and China will also participate in the Russian military’s Ocean 2024 strategic exercise, according to the release.
China and Russia in July carried out joint naval drills near the southern Chinese city of Zhanjiang and a separate joint patrol in the Pacific Ocean in July. The joint patrols of the Pacific have been carried out annually since 2021 but only once a year, with this year marking a change with two patrols. Last year in August, the China-Russia joint patrol sailed near Alaska and the Aleutian Islands.
The JMSDF tracked a PLAN surface action group, likely the ships taking part in the China-Russia drills, and separately a PLAN Dongdiao-class surveillance ship passing through the Tsushima Strait over the weekend, according to a Japan Joint Staff Office (JSO) release on Monday. The release stated that on Saturday at 2 p.m., Dongdiao-class surveillance ship Tianlangxing (794) was sighted sailing northeast in an area 80 miles southwest of Tsushima and subsequently sailed northeast through the Tsushima Strait to enter the Sea of Japan.
Later, at 8 p.m., according to the release PLAN cruiser CNS Wuxi (104), destroyer CNS Xining (117), frigate CNS Linyi (547) and fleet oiler CNS Taihu (889) were sighted sailing northeast in an area 80-99 miles southwest of Tsushima. Between Saturday and Sunday, the PLAN ships sailed northeast and transited the Tsushima Strait to enter the Sea of Japan. Multipurpose support ship JS Amakusa (AMS-4303), along with a JMSDF P-1 maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) of Fleet Air Wing 1 based at JMSDF Kanoya Air Base on the main island of Kyushu shadowed the PLAN ships, stated the release.
On Monday, the RAN began Exercise Kakadu 2024 in Darwin, which is scheduled to end on Sept. 20. The biennial exercise began in 1993 and is the RAN’s main hosted international naval exercise. “Kakadu provides an excellent opportunity for officers, sailors and aviators to practice their skills in a range of tactical maritime activities. This year the focus is on interoperability with greater integration of our international partners in all aspects of the exercise,” said RAN Chief Vice Adm. Mark Hammond in an Australian Defence release.
The Australian release stated that building on the success of the 2022 iteration, Kakadu 2024 will feature a multinational exercise control element housed at Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Darwin Air Base to coordinate air, sea and subsurface activities across the full spectrum of maritime warfare from mission planning and constabulary operations, up to high-end anti-submarine warfare and air defense exercises.
A U.S. Navy release on Monday stated that 13 warships along with aircraft from navies and air forces representing 11 countries will be taking part in the exercise, and held concurrently with a commanders’ conference, at which military leaders from more than 30 countries are represented, for a total of 3,000 military personnel converging on the Darwin area. The release stated that U.S. Navy destroyer USS Dewey (DDG-105) is taking part in the exercise while the RAN will deploy frigates HMAS Stuart (FFH153) and HMAS Warramunga (FFH152), a Collins-class submarine and RAAF aircraft, respectively.
Neither release named the ships from other countries taking part in the exercise, but images posted by the RAN show that JMSDF destroyer JS Ariake (DD-109), Indonesian Navy frigate KRI I Gusti Ngurah Rai (332), Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Vancouver (FFH331), Royal Malaysian Navy corvette KD Lekir (FSG26) and Vietnam People’s Navy (VPN) corvette Ship 18, with the VPN making their debut for the exercise.
Dewey, Ariake and Vancouver together with JMSDF fleet oiler JS Tokiwa (AOE-423), a JMSDF submarine, dry cargo ship USNS Richard E. Byrd (T-AKE-4), Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN) destroyer ROKS Chungmugong Yi Sun-sin (DDH-975), along with U.S Navy P-8A Poseidon MPAs and EA-18G Growlers electronic warfare aircraft carried out the U.S. Navy-led Pacific Vanguard 24 multinational exercise held around Guam from Aug. 23–Sept. 2. Ariake and Vancouver also carried out Japan-Canada bilateral exercise KAEDEX24 from Aug. 31–Sept. 3 and then KAEDEX 24-2 in the Timor Sea from Sept. 6-8 before arriving in Darwin for Kakadu. Both exercises involved tactical drills between the two ships.
