SIMULTANEOUS to the United States and South Korea’s Freedom Shield Exercise, allied countries Russia, China, and Iran conduct joint naval drills in the Gulf of Oman.
Marine Security Belt 2023 – the official name for the trilateral naval drills between Russia, The People’s Republic of China, and The Islamic Republic of Iran – was launched on Wednesday, March 15.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defence, the military sailors of the 3 countries will work out on the maps the episodes of the exercise on practical actions at sea and will conduct briefings and tactical briefings at the first stage of the exercise.
From March 16 to 17, the naval stage of the exercise will be held, during which the participants will work out the formation of an interethnic detachment of warships, joint maneuvering, perform artillery firing both during the day and night, and there will also be an episode to free a captured ship, provide assistance to ships in distress at sea and a number of other tasks.
A detachment of ships of the northern fleet will work out joint operations with the destroyer of the naval forces of the people’s liberation army of China “Nanjing”, the frigates “Sakhand” and “Jamaran”, the corvette “Bayandor” and other ships and vessels of the naval forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
On March 18th, after the completion of the joint Russian-Chinese-Iranian Naval Exercise Marine Security Belt 2023, the sailors of the 3 countries will sum up the results of their joint work.
In addition, China’s Ministry of National Defence said that other countries were also taking part in the said exercises, however, they did not provide further details.
Marine Security Belt 2023 comes at the same time as the Freedom Shield Exercise between the United States and South Korea.
It can also be recalled that China, Russia, and South Africa embarked on a 10-day Joint Naval Exercise back in February earlier this year off the East Coast of South Africa.
