The guided-missile destroyer USS Halsey, seen here last month in the Pacific Ocean, took part in a two-day exercise in the Bay of Bengal before heading to India for the Milan exercise on Feb. 19, 2024. (Ismael Martinez/U.S. Navy)
A U.S. guided-missile destroyer joined Japanese and Australian warships for weekend drills before heading to India for a separate, five-day exercise, according to the Navy.
The USS Halsey, Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami and the Australian frigate HMAS Warramunga trained together Saturday and Sunday in the Bay of Bengal, which borders Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Myanmar and Sri Lanka, the U.S. 7th Fleet said in a news release Monday.
The brief exercise included ship maneuvers, communications drills and information-sharing aimed at improving the “collective ability of the three nations to maintain maritime security and readiness to respond to any regional contingency,” according to the release.
After the exercise concluded, the Halsey relocated Monday to Visakhapatnam, India, to join the Milan exercise, 7th Fleet said in a separate news release that day.
That training, led by the Indian navy, includes more than 50 participating countries with sea and harbor phases scheduled to run until Feb. 27, 7th Fleet spokesman Lt. Luka Bakic told Stars and Stripes by email Tuesday.
The sea phase includes ship maneuvers, air-defense drills, communications drills, gunnery exercises, war scenarios and “high-end tactical training,” according to 7th Fleet.
The Halsey will be the only U.S. ship participating, Bakic said in a follow-up message.
The destroyer’s presence near India follows weeks of Navy activity in the South China and Philippine Seas.
The guided-missile destroyer USS John Finn on Friday joined the Sazanami and the Japanese guided-missile destroyer JS Shimakaze for a similar exercise in the South China Sea, Bakic said.
That exercise came just a week after the littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords teamed up with the Philippine patrol vessel BRP Gregorio Del Pillar for their own drills Feb. 9 in the South China Sea.
A day earlier, the John Finn and Gabrielle Giffords joined the Sazanami and Warramunga for two days of training in the South China Sea.
Despite the frequency and proximity of the various exercises, 7th Fleet has repeatedly said that they’re not related.
“Nearly all of our maritime activities on a day-to-day basis are conducted in concert with allies and partners,” Bakic said. “We are focused on ensuring that we maintain the capabilities to deter, defend, and, if necessary, defeat aggression.”
