Pakistan and Türkiye’s navies have concluded their first bilateral amphibious exercise in the port city of Karachi, aimed at enhancing maritime collaboration and interoperability, according to state media reports released on Wednesday.
The exercise concluded with a comprehensive amphibious drill conducted in a designated coastal area, validating the operational readiness of both navies, with the bilateral engagement underscoring the deep-rooted defence partnership between Islamabad and Ankara.
What is an ‘amphibious defence exercise’?
An amphibious defence drill simulates coordinated land-sea operations, enhancing troop readiness, inter-service synergy, and rapid response capabilities. This training exercise simulated the landing of troops from naval vessels onto a coastline, designed to strengthen coordination and combat readiness for offensive operations, evacuations, and disaster response scenarios.
The exercise incorporated combat firing techniques, amphibious manoeuvre drills, convoy escort procedures, and military operations in urban terrain.
“Live firing exercises and close combat scenarios, intended to refine tactical coordination and preparedness in littoral zones, also formed part of the training,” stated the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP).
Why Pak-Turkey’s amphibious defence exercise matters?
Recently, Pakistan’s Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Naveed Ashraf visited Türkiye, where he was awarded the prestigious Turkish military honour, the Legion of Merit, in recognition of his contributions to advancing maritime cooperation between the two nations. Turkish defence firms have played a pivotal role in modernising Pakistan’s Agosta 90B-class submarines.
Turkey has even supplied Islamabad with advanced military equipment, including unmanned aerial systems. The two countries routinely conduct joint military exercises to foster cooperation and operational synergy. The most recent, Ataturk-XIII, held in February, brought together special forces for combat training aimed at enhancing interoperability.
Was there any drill earlier?
In September 2021, Azerbaijan, Türkiye, and Pakistan held the “Three Brothers 2021” joint military drill in Baku, but it was not an amphibious one. The two-week exercise involved special forces and focused on counterterrorism, amphibious operations, and interoperability. Activities included sea assaults, fast-roping, live-fire drills with kamikaze drones, and close air interdiction by Azerbaijani forces
Was Azerbaijan in the 2019 drill also?
In April 2019, Türkiye, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan conducted the “Partnership Shield 2019” joint military drill in Uzbekistan’s Jizzakh region. The six-day exercise focused on counterterrorism, simulating defence against illegal infiltration by hostile groups.
Istanbul-Islamabad July deal: What was it about?
Last month on July 9, Pakistan and Türkiye agreed to strengthen cooperation across multiple sectors, including defence, trade, energy, and infrastructure, with the objective of increasing bilateral trade volume to $5 billion. The agreement was reached during discussions in Islamabad between Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Defence Minister Yasar Güler, with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar.