Canada Hosts Semiannual Surface Navy Staff Talks

YOKOSUKA, JAPAN

06.29.2024

Courtesy Story

Commander, Task Force 71/Destroyer Squadron 15

Naval planners from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States met in Vancouver, Canada to coordinate the next year’s worth of surface navy operations in the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans.

The navies routinely operating in the Indo-Pacific region are overwhelmingly surface navies. As such, their individual foreign policy objectives tend to focus on the deployment of destroyers, frigates, corvettes, and coast guard cutters, often alone, and far from their own domestic lifelines. This international planning group meets every six months to match the approved deployment goals of each partner nation with ongoing operations, activities, and exercises being executed across the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans making it easier for each navy to contribute forces to regional stability operations.

“Our partners participate many meetings throughout the year from high-level strategic policy coordination meetings to operational level flag talks, but this meeting is unique,” said Capt. Justin Harts, Commander, Destroyer Squadron Fifteen, “This really is the only tactical level planning meeting focused exclusively on supporting combined surface naval operations across the Indo-Pacific. This is where the broad foreign policy goals of each partner nation become a fine-tuned, executable, deployment reality.”

Chaired by Destroyer Squadron Fifteen (DESRON 15) as the principle U.S. surface force provider in the Western Pacific, the U.S. Navy also sent representatives from Commander, Logistics Group Western Pacific to help coordinate the delivery of fuel, food, parts, ammunition, and other logistical needs necessary to support deploying partner navies. Representatives from Destroyer Squadron Seven were in attendance to build the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ships into events and provide their unique subject matter expertise in Southeast Asian operations.

While the last iteration of this meeting included a new focus on supporting the expanding number of European naval deployments to the Indo-Pacific, this meeting introduced representatives from the U.S. Coast Guard to the group who have been deploying a steadily growing number of Cutters to the region.

“This conference is a perfect opportunity to understand how the Coast Guard can expand operational opportunities to promote maritime governance and strengthen strategic partnerships with our unique capabilities of our National Security Cutters,” said Commander Brownie Kuk, Operations Planning Chief, USCG Pacific Area, “Our partners share the same concerns for the exploitation of natural resources, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, and the erosion of international law in the Western Pacific.”

The growing number USCG Cutter deployments to the Western Pacific greatly enhances ongoing U.S. naval operations by introducing new capabilities in international law enforcement and fisheries patrols while simultaneously enhancing maritime domain awareness with regional coast guards and navies who are growing increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment into their exclusive economic zones and the global depletion of fish stocks, particularly in the South and East China Seas.

Also in attendance were representatives from the Pacific Security Maritime Exchange’s (PCMX) Enforcement Coordination Center (ECC) comprised of partners from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States, who actively coordinate United Nations’ activities to monitor, track, and disrupt, North Korea’s illicit activities at sea. Participation in ECC operations are a high priority for many of the Allied navies deployed to the Western Pacific.

During this weeklong meeting each of the delegations present their nation’s naval deployment goals and gain a better understanding of opportunities available for mutual support, combined operations, exercise participation, port visit coordination, UN sanctions support missions, and current events. These meetings refine individual deployment goals into actual deployment schedules.

The location of this meeting series rotates between the partner navies. This iteration was hosted by the Canadian Joint Operations Command at the Royal Canadian Navy’s facility at HMCS Discovery in Vancouver. Previous venues have included the Royal New Zealand Navy facilities in Singapore, Royal Canadian Navy facilities in Halifax, and the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force facilities in Yokosuka. The next meeting is scheduled to be hosted by the Royal Australian Navy in Sidney this fall.

DESRON 15 is the U.S. Navy’s largest destroyer squadron consisting of nine Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers forward-deployed to Yokosuka, Japan. In addition to the management of its own destroyers, DESRON 15 serves as the principle surface force commander for U.S. Seventh Fleet providing oversight for all U.S. Navy independent cruiser, destroyer, and U.S. Coast Guard cutter operations in the Western Pacific, as well as providing CTF-70 with embarked Sea Combat Commander support to the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group. In the execution of these duties, one of DESRON 15‘s primary missions is to coordinate the tactical level activities of Allied and partner surface naval forces on behalf of U.S. Seventh Fleet.

U.S. 7th Fleet is the U.S. Navy's largest forward-deployed numbered fleet, and routinely interacts and operates with Allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region.image1.jpeg

• Date Taken: 06.29.2024
• Date Posted: 06.30.2024 21:26
• Story ID: 475250
• Location: YOKOSUKA, JP