Ballarat Completes Malaysian Visit
Australia's HMAS Ballarat has completed a port visit to Sepanggar, Malaysia as part of a three month South East Asia deployment.
She was in the region to enagage with the Royal Malaysian Navy, and load supplies before she returns to Australia for further exercises.
Chief of Joint Operations, Vice Admiral David Johnston, said Ballarat’s deployment provided an opportunity to engage with many nations in South East Asia.
“Our enduring military to military engagement activities contribute to security and stability in our region,” he said.
“Ballarat completed activities with Canada, China, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States and Vietnam during its three month deployment.”
HMAS Ballarat will join Exercise Talisman Sabre in the coming weeks. Talisman Sabre is a biennial combined Australian and United States training activity, designed to train military forces in planning and conducting Combined Task Force operations to improve the combat readiness and interoperability between the forces.
This exercise is a major undertaking that reflects the closeness of the Australian-American alliance and the strength of the ongoing military-military relationship