By Prashanth Parameswaran
Joint exercise to run from July 27-28.
The U.S. Navy and the Timor-Leste Defense Force are conducting an annual bilateral maritime exercise this week as part of the growing defense relationship between the two countries.
Both nations will hold their third Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) exercise in Dili and in the vicinity of Port Hera Naval Base from July 27-28.
As I have noted previously, CARAT Timor-Leste is part of a set of annual bilateral exercises that the United States conducts with nine partner nations from South and Southeast Asia – Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Timor-Leste (See: “US Eyes Expanded Military Exercises with ASEAN Navies”). Timor-Leste is among the newer members relative to others like Singapore which just completed its 21st annual CARAT exercise with the United States last week (See: “US, Singapore Launch Maritime Warfare Exercise”).
According to a U.S. Navy press release seen by The Diplomat, this year’s exercise will involve about 100 personnel from the U.S. side and 300 from East Timor. It will feature seamanship and navigation exercises and symposia, civil engineer-exchanges and security training, and a community service and outreach project to interact with the local community.
Read the full story at The Diplomat