Participation of Navy Maritime Patrol Aircraft Sea Dragon in Training

Maritime Patrol Aircraft Operating Nations Gather for Submarine Tracking and Other Training Exercises

The Navy is participating in the multinational joint exercise 'Sea Dragon.' This exercise has been regularly conducted since 2014 by countries operating maritime patrol aircraft to enhance anti-submarine warfare capabilities.

This year's exercise will take place over ten days from today until the 25th near Guam, a U.S. territory. Since first observing in 2019, our Navy has participated annually with P-3 maritime patrol aircraft and personnel starting in 2020. This year, five countries including Korea, the United States, Japan, Australia, and India are participating. Our Navy will dispatch one P-3 maritime patrol aircraft and about 40 personnel. Each country will conduct intensive submarine tracking training and maritime patrol operation procedure drills.

Our Navy's P-3 maritime patrol aircraft will use detection equipment such as radar and sonobuoys to identify and track submarines and practice sharing collected submarine target information with participating countries' maritime patrol aircraft. Because of this, there is analysis suggesting that the Sea Dragon exercise has a significant purpose of jointly responding to North Korea's submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) capabilities.

Lieutenant Colonel Kim Tae-ho, the exercise commander, stated, "The Sea Dragon exercise is a great opportunity to enhance joint anti-submarine warfare capabilities and master anti-submarine tactics among participating countries," adding, "We will do our best through this exercise to improve our ability to respond to the increasingly sophisticated underwater threats from North Korea."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.