LOMBOK, Indonesia, May 9 (ChinaMil) -- The multilateral naval exercise Komodo 2018 entered the maritime drill phase on May 8. A total of 34 warships from participating navies including China's guided-missile destroyer Changsha and guided-missile frigate Liuzhou carried out drills of aerial photography, ship-borne helicopter landing, replenishment-at-sea, checking and warning-off and maritime interception, which were organized and commanded by the Indonesian Navy.
The 34 naval ships were grouped into three task fleets, each fleet consisted of two task flotillas. The Chinese destroyer Changsha and the other 9 naval ships from Russia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines formed the 1st task flotilla of the maritime interception fleet, and the 2nd task flotilla comprised the Chinese frigate Liuzhou and the other 9 naval ships from Bangladesh, France, Sri Lanka, and Australia.
At around 7 a.m. Tuesday morning, headed by the Indonesian naval ships, all the participating warships departed from their anchorage area and about three hours later, arrived at the designated exercise waters.
During the aerial photography drill, according to the drill plan, the 34 warships, which were lining up in seven columns, changed speeds and directions to form different formations.
On Tuesday afternoon, Chinese destroyer Changsha and Indonesian frigate KRI Raden Eddy Martadinata conducted the drill of ship-borne helicopters landing on each other's vessel for three sorties.
Later, Chinese destroyer Changsha and Indonesian frigate KRI Raden Eddy Martadinata, Chinese frigate Liuzhou and Indonesian frigate KRI Pandrong conducted the drill of replenishment between sailing vessels respectively.
"Today's drills tested the capabilities of naval vessels of participating countries in terms of tactical communications, navigation under complex conditions, understanding and execution of directives," said Long Juan, a commanding officer of the Chinese naval participating ships.
After the replenishment drill between sailing vessels, the participating naval ships conducted the drills of checking and warning-off and maritime interception.
