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| Southeast Asia |
| Malacca Straits Air Patrols Start Sept 13 |
| 2005-09-09 |
| JAKARTA, Sept 8 (Bernama) --The "Eye in the Sky" (EiS) combined maritime air patrol to enhance the safety and security of the Malacca Straits will be launched on Sept 13 with the first flight coming out of the Subang Airbase in Kuala Lumpur. Assistant Chief of Operations, Western Fleet Command of the Indonesian Navy, Col Suryo Wiranto said Defence Ministers of the three littoral states-- Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore -- plus Thailand would jointly launch the EiS, the first ever coordinated multilateral initiative to guard shipping in the straits. [T]he aircraft involved would report to the various Ops Centres of the participating countries which would then coordinate among themselves any follow-up action required. Under the EiS initiative, each state will conduct up to two air patrols per week along the Malacca and Singapore Straits, with each flight carrying a combined mission patrol team that would consist of personnel from the participating states... subject to the consent of the existing participants, other countries too were welcome to participate in the EiS air patrols on a voluntary basis. Answering questions from the press later, Suryo said even though Thailand was not one of the littoral states of the Malacca Straits, that country had been given the opportunity to contribute jointly in the air surveillance. He said the EiS would be jointly coordinated in such a way that no days over the 805-kilometre Malacca Straits would be free from air surveillance by one or two aircrafts from participating countries... |
| Posted by:Pappy |