Australia leads MCM task force

The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) has lead a task force as part of the International Mine Countermeasure Exercise involving the US, UK and Oman.

The exercise took place on 10-23 April, during which ten RAN personnel joined Royal Fleet Auxiliary RFA Cardigan Bay, and personnel from Oman, the UK and the US, in Oman. Task Force 523 included three diving units and multiple ships in the Central Arabian Gulf and Red Sea. The international exercise takes place every 18 months.

The ship's operations room housed Australian command and control equipment that was used to identify and neutralise mines that pose a threat to commercial shipping routes. 

During the exercise, Task Force 523 ships cleared the exercise area of sea mines and engaged a fictitious non-state terrorist group serving as the opposing force.

Commander Max Muller, Commander of the RAN's Mine Warfare and Clearance Diving Task Group, said: 'Over 30 training mines have been deployed in the Gulf of Oman and it will be the job of the mine countermeasures units within Task Force 523 to find and deal with them.

'My role as the commander is essentially to gain situational awareness within my assigned exercise theatre from onboard RFA Cardigan Bay and help facilitate the freedom of navigation for shipping transiting through the Gulf of Oman, which has a very high density of maritime traffic.'