Australian Maritime Issues 2007 - Royal Australian Navy

56 AUSTRALIAN MARITIME ISSUES 2007: SPC-A ANNUAL
to all-out attacks on regional shipping; nor do attacks on oil/gas platforms in Saudi
Arabia/Iraq translate to attacks on regional installations. Similarly, Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) attacks on shipping are for a secessionist purpose in Sri Lanka
and are not necessarily indicative of general maritime terrorist capabilities.
Naval exercises conducted in the region assist to develop sea keeping and warfighting
skills. To meet the emerging security challenges in the region, in 2005, some serials
for the FPDA maritime exercises were reorientated towards anti-piracy and counterterrorism
activities.
The framework for the protection of shipping
Traditionally, navies have been responsible for the protection of merchant shipping
when attacks have been conducted by enemy armed forces, but changes to the
international shipping industry and the growth of many stakeholders, as well as
the demise of national fleets, have complicated the legal picture. The protection of
seaborne trade is a complex task and will almost always involve more than one country.
Consequently, some form of cooperation will be necessary and clearly there would be
benefit in having them agreed before an incident. Regional cooperative mechanisms
provide a good foundation for this.
One of the foundation measures for Australian sea lines of communication (SLOC)
security cooperation is the Radford-Collins Agreement of 1951 with the US. 39 It
delineated national areas of responsibility for naval control of shipping, local defence
and anti-submarine warfare in the Indian and southern Pacific Oceans. The agreement
remains a key bilateral defence agreement of significance to the safe passage of
friendly shipping through affected areas and it places an onus on Australia to maintain
a capability for trade protection.
Under the agreement, the parties periodically hold exercises to test and assess common
procedures, which usually take the form of Naval Control of Shipping (NCS) command
post exercises. The RAN is involved in a number of annual or biennial NCS exercises
with a number of countries. Over the years these have included Exercises LONGEX/
ROLL CALL, TRADE LINES, EXPANDED SEA, ROLLER COASTER and BELLBUOY.
These exercises may be either command post exercises, which test the administrative
procedures involved in controlling shipping, or where fleet units are available, they
may be used in actual scenarios. Exercise BELLBUOY is conducted annually in the
Indian and Pacific Oceans to test and evaluate procedures during a time of tension,
and involves Australia, the US, Canada, the UK, South Korea and Chile. Fleet units
may be used when available, otherwise the exercise involves briefing shipmasters and
having appropriately trained staff practise their procedures.
As well as the Radford-Collins Agreement there are also international naval trade
protection fora known as Shipping Working Groups (SWGs). The two main ones are the