PHL Navy’s BRP Ramon Alcaraz conducts naval drills with Vietnam, Brunei

The Philippines, together with Vietnam and Brunei, conducted series of naval drills while en route to the ASEAN-United States Maritime Exercise which will be held in Sattahip, Thailand.

According to the Philippine Navy on Wednesday, its patrol ship, BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PS16), is presently in a trilateral sail with Royal Brunei Navy (RBN) Darussalam-class offshore patrol vessel KDB Darulaman (OPV-08) and Vietnam People’s Navy (VPN) Pohang-class HQ-18.

On September 2, BRP Ramon Alcaraz met with KDB Darulaman at the vicinity off Kingston Shoal, Brunei before the two vessels sailed together to meet Vietnam's HQ-18.

The three naval vessels will be forming a combined task group in which the Philippine Navy is set to be designated as the task group commander.

The Philippine Navy earlier said the exercises will be executed off the eastern waters of Thailand where sea and air assets as well as special operations teams of participating navies are set to conduct combined maneuvers to address various contingencies at sea.

It was earlier mentioned by Philippine Navy chief Vice Admiral Robert Empedrad that inter-operation among ships are done to address maritime security threats such as piracy and human assistance and disaster relief. — Anna Felicia Bajo/RSJ, GMA News