Click to see the next picture

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLAN) holds a joint maritime search-and-rescue exercise with the U.S. Navy in the waters near Hawaii on September 9, 2013, local time. The joint exercise, carried out by four warships and three helicopters, is the first one staged by the Chinese and the U.S. navies in the last seven years. [Photo: mil.cnr.cn/Sun Li]

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) held a joint maritime search-and-rescue exercise with the U.S. Navy in the waters near Hawaii on September 9, 2013, local time.

The two sides dispatched four warships and three helicopters in the first joint maritime search-and-rescue exercise (SAREX) staged by the Chinese and the U.S. navies in the last seven years.

During the exercise, the two navies made many leapfrog achievements, including the first helicopter formation flight, the first establishment of a joint damage control team and the first search of the same waters by air forces.

The joint exercise was carried out by the guided missile destroyer “Qingdao”, the guided missile frigate “Linyi” and the helicopter “Dauphin” from the PLAN, together with the guided missile cruiser “USS Lake Erie”, an auxiliary ship, the helicopter “Seahawk” and the helicopter “Black Hawk” from the U.S. Navy. It was participated in by nearly 1,000 officers and men.

The two navies jointly untied the mooring rope of the guided missile destroyer “Qingdao” at 9:00, and then sailed towards the exercise area. The SAREX started at 10:30 and was commanded by two navies in turn, composed of four stages featuring nine areas including, formation flight communications and commands, joint missile-helicopter searching for distressed ships, rescues of ships in distress and ship formation movements.

PRE 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  NEXT