Philippines to hold Coast Watch Exercise, U.S. surveillance aircraft to participate

MANILA, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine Navy (PN), coast guard and maritime police will hold the Coast Watch System Capability Exercise from Sept. 3 to 7 in southern Philippines, the military announced Sunday.

Codenamed CWSCAPEX 2012, the exercise will hold its Command Post Exercise (CPX) and Fleet Training Exercise (FTX) at the Naval Forces Eastern Mindanao (NFEM) area of responsibility (AOR).

"The exercise intends to promote inter-agency collaboration in line with the establishment of the National Coast Watch System," said Navy Flag Officer In Command, Vice Admiral Alexander Pama.

About 200 personnel from the Philippine Navy will participate in the exercise which is composed of a force array that includes two ships, one Navy Islander aircraft, one Navy Reservist ship, and a force protection unit.

Observers from allied maritime countries of Australia, Malaysia, and Indonesia were also invited to participate as observers during the CPX.

The United States will send a P3C Orion surveillance aircraft to complement a PN Islander aircraft during a Maritime Surveillance Exercise. These will be tasked to conduct patrol, surveillance, tracking, and monitoring a designated target vessel or Contact of Interest (COI) as it passes the exercise area, the Philippine military said in a press release on Sunday.

The "Orion" is a four-engine turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. Enditem