MUARA NAVAL BASE, Monday, 17 November 2014 - KD SELANGOR and KD GANAS from the Royal Malaysian Navy have arrived safely in Brunei Darussalam this morning for Exercise HORNBILL series 24/2014 which is going to take place starting today, 17 November 2014 until 23 November 2014.
Present to received and welcomed the Royal Malaysian Navy ships were Lt Col (L) Willie bin Padan, Commanding Officer of KDB DARULEHSAN who is also Commander Task Group for the Exercise, Mej (L) Md Azrin bin Hj Mahmud Commanding Officer of KDB IJHTIHAD, as well as officers and men from the participating ships for the Exercise.
Following the ships’ arrival, the Royal Malaysian Navy delegation, led by Rear Admiral Dato' Pahlawan Mohammad Rosland Bin Omar, Commander Naval Region 2, Commander Jamaludin Bin Haji Sairi, Commanding Officer KD SELANGOR and also Deputy Commander Task Group; and Lt Cdr Che Mohd Fakrul Azizi Bin Che Lah, Commanding Officer KD GANAS made a courtesy call to the Commander Royal Brunei Navy, First Admiral Dato Seri Pahlawan Abdul Aziz Haji Mohd Tamit at the Royal Brunei Navy Headquarters.
Exercise HORNBILL is an annual exercise, which consists of a series of bilateral exercises between the Royal Brunei Navy (RBN) and the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN). The aim of this exercise is to strengthen the relationship and to enhance the mutual cooperation and understanding between both navies through shared working experience particularly in the development of common doctrines, procedures and tactics.
There will be four participating ships; two from the RBN namely KDB DARULEHSAN and KDB IJHTIHAD and two from the Royal Malaysian Navy, KD SELANGOR and KD GANAS. Exercise Hornbill comprises of 3 phases. The first phase will kick off with harbor phase in Brunei Darussalam, followed by three days of sea phase enroute from Brunei Waters to Sepanggar Naval Base in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia and post exercise phase in Sepanggar Naval Base.
Apart from producing a common ground of mutual understanding, participants of both receiving navies will have the opportunity to interact informally through various sporting and social events.