KOTA KINABALU: Royal Malaysian Navy personnel enhanced their wartime preparedness through Operational Sea Training Exercise East (Ostex East) here.

The exercise started on Nov 15 and will end on Monday (Nov 27) and is being carried out in the South China Sea and Sulu Sea.

A total of eight Navy vessels were involved, supported by helicopters and Scaneagle unmanned aerial system (UAS) operated by the 601 Squadron.

The Royal Malaysian Air Force through the Region Two Air Base in Labuan, also participated, providing its support with the deployment of its Hawk fighters and maritime surveillance aircraft.

In the second series of this exercise, Navy personnel were involved in five phases namely the docking phase, Force Integration Training (FIT), Hot Wash Up (HWU), War Exercise (Warex) and post-exercise phase.

The phases focused on giving the opportunity to the navy people to enhance their navigation skills, maritime knowledge and warfare.

They were also trained to create, manage and maintain tactical communications during a maritime operation.

Naval Area 2 Commander Rear Admiral Khir Junaidi Idris officiated at the closing ceremony of the exercise onboard the ship KD Sri Tawau on Sunday (Nov 26).

During the start of the exercise on Nov 17, Khir reminded each participant to give full commitment as well as try their best to better their skills so that their professionalism would be second to none.

“All feedback from previous exercises must be given attention and become references in order to maintain the Navy’s maritime operation preparedness.

“The 3P elements, or people, platform and process, will remain the essence in the implementation of every exercise whether on land or sea training,” he said.

Towards this end, Khir said the Navy aspires to maintain the alertness of its community as well as assets through continued training.