Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesian warship KRI Sultan Iskandar Muda-367, AS565 MBe Panther HS-1306 helicopter, and Navy soldiers, members of MTF TNI Garuda Contingent XXVIII-P/UNIFIL, conducted sea phase exercises in the Java Sea from last week to October 31.
Head of the Indonesian Navy Information Service, Commodore I Made Wira Hady Arsanta Wardhana, stated on Thursday that the series of exercises was part of the pre-duty training for Navy soldiers joining the MTF or Maritime Task Force of the UNIFIL or UN Peacekeeping Force in Lebanon.
During the exercise, the AS565 MBe Panther HS-1306 helicopter carried out several training materials, which included cross-deck exercises from KRI Sultan Iskandar Muda (SIM) to KRI Sultan Hasanuddin-366 and vice versa, air medical evacuation, night fly, and transporting goods or people from the deck to the helicopter, also called vertical replenishment.
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Commander of Air Wing 2 of the Indonesian Navy Aviation Center, Colonel (P) Adam Firmansyah, also explained that pilots and aircrew who will be serving at the MTF Task Force in Lebanon in 2025 must master all the training materials.
Several training materials provided at the exercise for KRI SIM-367 comprised communication check exercises (commcheck), anti-air warfare (ADEX 470), cross-deck landing, medical evacuation (medevac), anti-surface warfare exercises (SURFEX 991, 992, and 995), damage control exercises (DCEX), helicopter night flight exercises (Night Flyex), and EWX 207 (RENTEX).
Morse code communication exercises using light (FLASHEX), embarkation exercises (BOARDEX), ship gunnery firing exercises (GUNNEX), ship-to-ship fueling (RAS mailbag), and vertical replenishment are also part of the training materials.
In the series of exercises, KRI SIM-367 trained with KRI Sultan Hasanuddin, which is part of the Escort Ship Unit of the Indonesian Navy Fleet II Command.
Earlier, the task force also participated in several harbor phase exercises including helo operations, COE inspections, road negotiations and closures, damage control, VIP visits, medical handling, conduct discipline teams, media handling, medal parades, and transfer of authority.
The task force is scheduled to sail with KRI Sultan Iskandar Muda-367 to Beirut Port, Lebanon, in December 2024.
The Maritime Task Force comprises Navy soldiers from warship crews, flight officers, information officers, psychology officers, intelligence officers, health officers, soldiers from the Frogman Command (Kopaska), and divers.
They will continue the duties of the current task force serving with KRI Diponegoro-365 in Beirut, Lebanon.
The Maritime Task Force is one of the units under the control of the UNIFIL.
Apart from the MTF, the Indonesian Navy also sent other troops to join other UNIFIL units including the Mechanized Battalion Task Force (INDOBATT), the Force Headquarters Support Unit (FHQSU), the Indo Force Protection Company (FPC) Task Force, the Civilian-Military Coordination (CIMIC) Task Force, the Military Community Outreach Unit (MCOU) Task Force, and the Level 2 Hospital Task Force.
Most of the Indonesian soldiers who are members of UNIFIL operate on land, while the MTF carries out its duties at sea.
