Pakistan Navy conducts full scale exercise Sea Spark 2006

[Neo]

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Pakistan Navy conducts full scale exercise Sea Spark 2006

KARACHI: November 27, 2006: Pakistan Navy is conducting its biennial maritime exercise 'SEA SPARK' 2006.

The exercise will be conducted on full scale in the North Arabian Sea. Opening relief of the exercise was held at Pakistan Navy Tactical School at PN Dockyard on Monday morning.

Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Muhammad Afzal Tahir and other senior naval officers attended the briefing.

The prime objective of the exercise is to access the operational readiness of Pakistan Navy. The exercise is also aimed at determining the command articulation of newly raised coastal command comprising Special Services Group and Pak Marines.

In his opening briefing, Deputy Chief of Naval Staff (Operations) Rear Admiral Shahid Iqbal said that Pakistan pursues cordial and peaceful relations with all regional countries.

The ongoing CBMs with India are testimony to our pledge for promoting peace and stability in the region.

It is, however, considered imperative to have strong and well prepared armed forces since weakness invites aggression.

Rear Admiral Shahid informed that the experience gained during deployment in Coalition Maritime Campaign Plan (CMCP), a component of global war on terror, and command of multinational Task Force-150 by Pakistan Navy will be suitably adapted during the exercise to draw pertinent lessons and evolve strategy to counter present day maritime threat.

The exercise involves precipitation of all available Pakistan Navy units including surface combatants, submarines, aviation assets, Special Service Group and Pakistan Marines.

Supporting elements of Pakistan Army and Pakistan Air Force will also take part in the exercise.

The participating units of Pakistan Navy have been suitably allocated for the exercise to Blue and Orange forces headed by Admiral Asaf Humayun and Rear Admiral Noman Bashir.

The force commanders briefed the audience on their plans of action and strategies. These forces will be pitched against each other in specific threat environment of modern day warfare.

Earlier, the Officer Conducting the Exercise acquainted the audiences with salient features of the exercise.

He said that the exercise will be conducted in four phases; preparatory, mobilisation, war at sea and analysis phase.

The mobilisation of forces has already started which will be followed by equipment monitoring and weapons evaluation.

The SEA SPARK series of exercises has been an important feature of Pakistan Navy's operational preparedness since 1979, when due to Pakistan's withdrawal from CENTO in 1978, the MIDLINK series of maritime exercises was discontinued.

[solid snake]

Cool name for the exercise
Its vital to combat readiness.

[Neo]

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I regret that many of these exercises don't reveal any technical data.
I'd like to know where PN stands today.

And why don't we have a dedicated Combat Naval Air Arm yet?