Cutting across the Top End’s tropical waters, HMAS Warramunga has sailed into HMAS Coonawarra in Darwin after successfully completing its regional presence deployment (RPD) across the Indian Ocean.

Warramunga departed Australia in late January and participated in the Indian Navy-led Exercise Milan and International Fleet Review in Visakhapatnam.

During its deployment, Warramunga conducted port visits to Singapore and India, sailing about 12,000 nautical miles and spending more than 1200 hours underway.

Commanding Officer Warramunga Commander Ken Brown said the deployment demonstrated Australia’s commitment to being an active, reliable and long-term security partner for the region.

“We remain a trusted partner within the region, based on decades of engagement during port visits and cooperation in training, and transparency about our security objectives,” Commander Brown said. 

“Meeting counterparts like we have in India provides us with the forum to share perspectives on Indian Ocean security challenges, and our priorities, so that we’re better equipped to work alongside one another in future.

“The National Defence Strategy noted that there is increasing competition for access and influence across the Indian Ocean, which reinforces the importance of conducting maritime security engagements in the northeast Indian Ocean.”

'We remain a trusted partner within the region, based on decades of engagement.'

Regional presence deployments contribute to Australia’s long-term security and prosperity by protecting Australia’s interests, preserving an international rules-based order, enhancing cooperation and relationships with regional partners and allies, and developing capability and interoperability.

Commander Brown said the security of the Indian Ocean was important not only to countries that shared a coastline with this body of water, but to the wider region and globe alike.

“The Indian Ocean is now the globe’s busiest and most strategically significant shipping corridor, serving as an economic highway spanning South-East Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and Africa,” Commander Brown said.

“This includes half of the world’s shipping container traffic and two thirds of oil shipments transiting the region.

“Our economic prosperity and security remain intimately tied to the maintenance of global peace and stability, and regional presence deployments are a key part of how we ensure this continues.”

As Warramunga signs off on another successful deployment, the crew will now shift their focus to regional engagement activities, including an open day in Albany, followed by exercises with partner nations in the Western Australian exercise area before returning to their home port at Fleet Base East.