‘Dosti ‘– Tri-nation maritime exercise off Maldivian coast:

Naval camaraderie at its best

By Dhaneshi YATAWARA

Training to prevent marine pollution

Indian Coast Guard Ship Sankalpa

Medvac mission. From SLNS Sagara to ‘Chethak’ Helicopter of the Indian Coast Guards

Seven ships, a number of Fast Patrol Crafts, Inshore Patrol Crafts along with rubber inflatable boats and several sea vessels loaded with brave men of the sea stirred the waters in the seas off the coast of Male, the capital city of Maldives for four days since April 23. Maldivian, Indian and Sri Lankan coast guards ventured into the sea to exchange their experience in order to understand the needs of each country in securing their coasts and waters. It was to sharpen the nations with coast guard security for the protection of the South Asian region acting in a group as friends. Thus the operation named as Excercise ‘Dosti’ since its inception in 1991. The 2012 operation was ‘Dosti XI’.

Since 1991 ‘Dosti’ maritime exercise conducted biannually freshened up the friendship between the coast guards of Maldives and India. For the first time in its twenty years of history the two member joint coast guard exercise ‘Dosti’ became three this year. The twentieth year of this friendship reached a milestone when Sri Lanka coast guards joint the circle. ‘Dosti XI’ was the first international level maritime exercise the Sri Lanka Coast Guards (SLCG)had ever participated.

In the events held in Male from April 23 to 27, a total of seven ships and one aircraft participated. The Indian Coast Guard was represented by Indian Coast Guard Ships “Sankalpa” and “Subhadra”, “Kumari Chauhan”and a Dornier aircraft.

The Maldives was represented by the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF)coast guard ships “Huravee”, “Ghazee” and “Shaheed Ali” and Sri Lanka with naval ship “Sagara”.

Dosti XI marked a new stage in cooperation between the three countries. With the menace of piracy shifting eastwards, it was important for the Coast Guards of the three friendly countries to work together to ensure the safety of shipping in this region.

‘Dosti XI’ focused on Maritime Search and Rescue, Marine Pollution control, Medical evacuation, anti-piracy and Boarding operations. The exercise further strengthened the bonds of friendship and enhanced inter-operability between the Coast Guards of the three countries.

Maldives Minister of Defence and National Security Mohamed Nazim, Maldives Chief of Defence Force Major General Ahmed Shiyam and representatives of various Ministries of Maldives witnessed the performance at sea as well as Director Generals of the Coast Guards of India, Sri Lanka and Maldives. Vice Admiral M.P. Muralidharan, Director General of the Indian Coast Guard and Rear Admiral Ruwan Dias, Director General of the Sri Lanka coast guard visited Maldives to witness the exercise.

“This is the first time that Sri Lanka coast guard took part in an international sea exercise and SLCG personnel had a great opportunity to learn many on maritime law enforcement activities from this exercise,” said SLGC Director General Rear Admiral Ruwan Dias speaking to the Sunday Observer.

On the invitation to participate in ‘Dosti XI’ Sri Lankan Government decided to send a team of SLCG on board Sri Lanka Naval Ship ‘Sagara’ along with its crew.

“There are specific exercises for the coast guards such as marine pollution prevention other than securing the Sri Lankan waters and search and rescue missions,” said Rear Admiral Ruwan Dias explaining the scope of ‘Dosti XI’. A totally of 171 coast guards and Navy personnel participated in the exercise, which included 10 officers and 42 other rankers from Coast Guards and Navy along with 12 officers and 107 sailors belonging to the crew of the SLNS “Sagara”. “This exercise gives us aboost to our capabilities. It is a multiplication. Contacts that build up between the personnel of all three countries is another important aspect. Professionally it will be quite advantageous,” Rear Admiral Dias added.

Maldives Minister of Defence and National Security Mohamed Nazim, Indian Cost Guards DG Vice Admi-ral M.P. Muralidharan and SLCG DG Rear Admiral Ruwan Dias

Fire fighters of the Sri Lankan team ready for any emergency. The entire team on SLNS Sagara with the CO Commodore Ruwan Perera

Led by Commanding Officer of the SLNS “Sagara” Commodore Ruwan Perera the entire crew officers and men set off from Galle harbour on April 21 to Male. “By the first light of April 23 we reached Maldives territorial waters and around 8 a.m. anchored at the specified location for us,” said Lieutenant Susantha Gamage, one of the five officers who participated at the event from SLCGs.

All personnel later attended a joint working discussion on the entire exercise. By 2 p.m. Indian Coast Guards Ship (ICGS) Sankalpa conducted a training session on boarding unarmed personnel and combat, search and rescue. “The Indian team exchanged their experience with the Sri Lankan and Maldivian personnel,” Lt. Gamage said. The day ended with an evening reception held at the Nasandura Palace Hotel.

On April 24 ‘Dosti XI’ started. After the opening ceremony held at the Traders Hotel in the morning, teams visited each others’, ships to understand the capabilities of each other.

The first day was for the service personnel to interact with each other and exchange their experience for ‘Dosti’.

April 24 was the day for practices for disaster alerts. “How to locate people in distress by detecting them with Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) and coordinating with teams from different countries to get the information and save the people in minimum time was the exercise,” Lt. Gamage added.

April 25 was the day for Medvac – Medical Evacuations in which Sri Lankan team practised with the assistance from Indian Helicopter ‘Chethak’. Later in the day was to carry out a mock anti piracy mission. The teams were a combination of all three countries. The Sri Lankan team’s personnel from the SLN Special Boat Squadron received a first hand training in this mission. On April 26, the Marine pollution prevention exercise was carried out.

The coast guards need to learn to manoeuvre in the sea in all the operations keeping an appropriate speed working along with helicopters, light aircraft and other small sea vessels. Through these exercises we learnt the technological advances the South Asia region has achieved” Lt. Gamage said explaining their unique experience with ‘Dosti’.

On April 26 the exercise ended evaluating each others capabilities and highlighting the areas that need to be addressed by each country. Sri Lanka possesses a coastal belt of 1117 kilometres, territorial waters of 21,770 square kilometres and Exclusive Economic Zone of 465,800 square kilometres. The ‘Mahinda Chinthanaya’ programme (Vision of the country) encompasses the country’s development objectives lays emphasize on establishing maritime activities and efficient management of all maritime resources.

The main maritime objective of ‘Mahinda Chinthanaya’ is to develop Sri Lanka as the maritime hub of South Asia and bring back the glorious historic status as centre of Asian Silk Route.

Sri Lanka coast guards as the Police of the seas has a key role to play in making this dream come true.

The friendship networks that develop through missions like Exercise ‘Dosti’ strengthens the SLCGs to serve the country better in a challenging future that is yet to come.