Emiri Naval Forces hold joint exercise with British navy

The Qatari Emiri Naval Forces began a joint naval exercise with British Royal Navy forces in Qatar’s territorial waters yesterday.
The Ministry of Defence’s moral guidance directorate said the exercise is being conducted in two phases.
The first will focus on training and lecturers at Hamad Port on firefighting, an inventory of the damage, maritime communications, special ship protection exercises during docking and lectures on marine surface warfare.
The second phase includes practical exercises on minesweeping operations to clear the marine channel, maritime communications, artillery and naval missile communications delivery along with a number of other naval operational exercises.
The directorate explained that a number of Qatari Armed Forces’ state-of-the-art boats and naval equipment and those of their British counterpart will be used in the exercise, including Barzan missile boat, Damsa missile boat and British minesweeper Middleton.
The goal of the two-day exercise is to exchange experiences among participating forces, develop and standardise maritime concepts, train Qatari and British crews on various support methods and simulate missile launch from warships.
Meanwhile, the Emiri Navy’s Special Joint Forces Group also held exercises with the UK’s Royal Navy in the territorial waters  Qatar.
The exercise included special training for ship protection during docking, clearance of mines, military and inspection operations, manoeuvres and a large number of other naval operational exercises, as well as training on intrusions, sea manoeuvres and refuelling at sea.
The exercise comes at the request of the British Royal Navy forces in accordance with prior agreements between the two sides within the framework of bilateral defence co-operation between Qatar and Britain to support efforts to combat terrorism and smuggling operations and maintain security and stability in the region.