BEIJING, March 22 -- The Chinese PLA Navy's guided missile destroyer Nanning completed the four-day joint maritime exercise Security Belt-2023 on March 19 and left the Port of Chabahar in Iran to resume its naval escort mission.
The Security Belt-2023 joint maritime exercise developed from the joint maritime exercises among China, Iran, and Russia held respectively in 2019 and 2022. It was held in the Gulf of Oman this year, with the theme of Working Together to Create Security and Peace, and involved drills on subjects including maritime shooting, joint search and rescue, communications, counter-terrorism and counter-piracy operations, etc.
On March 15, the ship Nanning arrived at the designated waters off Chabahar, Iran, to gather with the participating Iranian and Russian warships.
The next morning, it headed to the sea area for the exercise along with Iran's Jamaran destroyer and Russia’s frigate Admiral Gorshkov, during which three warships maneuvered with a predetermined formation.
During the drills after their arrival, the ship Nanning occupied a favorable position. The onboard special operations soldiers decisively targeted and fired at the simulated enemy, successfully destroying it.
That night, the participating vessels arrived at the predetermined waters for communication drill. They interacted with multiple sets of tactical signals, with transmission accuracy reaching 100 percent.
On March 17, the search and rescue drill began. The Iranian warship simulated a hijacked merchant ship, for which the special operations soldiers aboard the ship Nanning were assigned to take rescue. Under the cover of a helicopter, the Chinese troops boarded the mock merchant ship and searched the hostages in cooperation with their Iranian counterparts. They coordinated with each other to control the steering room, and successfully completed the task of pirate capture and hostage rescue.
Captain Qiu Maoxuan, commander of the destroyer Nanning, said that the joint exercise has deepened practical cooperation between the navies of participating countries, further demonstrated their willingness and ability to jointly maintain maritime security and build a maritime community with a shared future, and brought about positive energy for regional peace and stability.