By Prashanth Parameswaran
‘Multilateralization’ of drills to take place next year, a senior naval official tells The Diplomat.
The United States will look to expand its naval exercises in the Asia-Pacific in 2016, a commander told The Diplomat in an interview published October 13 (See: “Interview: The Future of US Military Exercises in the Asia-Pacific”).
The United States already has a series of exercises that it does with Asian nations, including the Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) exercise that now includes nine South and Southeast Asian countries along with a naval engagement activity with Vietnam, as well as the smaller Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training (SEACAT) exercise with six nations.
But as I have reported previously, U.S. officials have been looking to expand these exercises further (See: “US Eyes Expanded Military Exercises with ASEAN Navies”). In an interview with The Diplomat, Rear Admiral Charlie Williams, the commander of the U.S. Seventh Fleet’s Task Force 73 that helps plan and execute these exercises, said that Washington was looking to ‘multilateralize’ these exercises by including two other partners and working on common themes.
“So what we’re anticipating in 2016 is a couple of events where we’d probably include two other nations and the United States to be able to have an event with these other multilateral partners working towards themes that are common to us,” he said.
Read the full story at The Diplomat