Royal Navy warship HMS Tamar battles Malaysian attack boats in major war game in the Indo Pacific

Patrol ship HMS Tamar took part in her first of two major exercises this year off the coast of Malaysia taking part in naval drills.

The ship joined Exercise Bersama Shield in support of the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA).

Signed in 1971 between the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore, the FPDA is southeast Asia’s only collective security arrangement.

The FPDA exercise programme has expanded to include annual joint military exercises, cooperation on countering terrorism, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

During Bersama Shield, a joint naval task group trained closely together, working on surface and anti-air warfare techniques as well as live firing drills.

This year’s war game saw Tamar battling against Malaysian fast-attack craft, which were posing as the enemy for the exercise.

‘The exercise has been a fantastic opportunity for Tamar to work with our FPDA partner navies, strengthening our relationships and building tactical integration between forces,’ said Tamar’s executive officer Lieutenant Commander Matthew Millyard.

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Tamar was joined by several RAF personnel who supported the aerial element of the exercise by providing logistics, intelligence, communications and flight operations expertise.

‘I have had great opportunities to travel to some amazing places with the RAF Reserves already, and this is definitely up there with the best of them,’ said Flight Lieutenant Andrew Wolfe of Glasgow-based 602 Squadron.

A Royal Marines boarding team from 42 Commando were also deployed to work closely with counterparts from Singapore and Malaysia.

Together they shared knowledge and expertise and laid plans for future boarding exercises and operations together countering illicit activity in the region.

HMS Tamar is deployed to the Indo-Pacific on a five-year mission alongside her sister ship HMS Spey to support allies in the region.

The ship’s trip follows a major deployment to the Indo Pacific by the Royal Navy’s flagship, HMS Queen Elizabeth.

The aircraft carrier sailed from Portsmouth, leading the UK’s new strike group as part of her maiden deployment, which took the £3.2bn warship to the Mediterranean, Gulf, and Far East.

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