Exercise Coastwatchers training hits the water

Exercise Coastwatchers continues this week, with the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) and the Australian Defence Force (ADF) demonstrating their skills on the water. 

As part of the exercise, RSIPF and ADF members are undertaking courses on small boat maintenance and operations. 

This will see members sharpening their skills, ensuring these vital assets are ready to be used, as well as learning how to plan and execute operations involving them. 

Members from both Solomon Islands and Australia departed Honiara and headed out to Guadalcanal, Central, and Malaita Provinces to test these skills.

This will see the members working through planned operations that were developed in Week One of the exercise. 

These small boat operations allow the RSIPF to practice how they might respond to a range of scenarios, such as border patrols, search and rescue, or responses to natural disasters. 

Small boat skills are essential for both Solomon Islands and Australia, two nations that rely on the ocean for trade and economic development. 

They help both the RSIPF and the ADF to protect their country’s security, resources, and economies. 

Exercise Coastwatchers runs from 6 March to 1 April.

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AHC statement