Australian defence, police, international armies flex military might on Sydney waters during Exercise Pacific Protector 2024

Defence agencies from around the globe descended on Sydney Harbour as part of a military exercise to counter the illicit trade of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Australia hosted Exercise Pacific Protector 2024 as a training opportunity for countries aligned to the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) in an effort to impede illicit WMD-related trade in the Indo-Pacific region. During a joint exercise on Thursday, personnel from the Australian Defence Force, Japan, Republic of Korea and the US as well as the Australian Federal Police and NSW Police Force boarded the board the HMAS Gascoyne. The exercise focused on personnel boarding the vessel from a rubber dingy before carrying out further training on-board. Defence personnel from 28 countries engaged in academic sessions, a tabletop exercise, boarding exercises, demonstrations and other training activities. ADF first assistant secretary for strategic policy Sheridan Kearnan said the joint training effort allowed PSI partners to build networks, tools and capabilities aimed at enhancing capacity and interoperability. “The exercise provides an opportunity to practice scenarios and improve mechanisms for sharing intelligence, aligning decision-making processes and deploying capabilities and assets for interdiction operations,” Dr Kearnan said. “It sends a clear signal to proliferators that their activities are being monitored and PSI partners are prepared to take individual or collaborative action to stop illicit WMD proliferation.” The 28 participating countries are Argentina, Australia, Chile, Cook Islands, Fiji, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Philippines, Poland, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, Turkiye, United Arab Emirates, the UK, the US and Vietnam.