Multinational exercise LA PEROUSE 25 [fr]

 Straits of Malacca, Sunda and Lombok,16 to 24 January 2025

Deployed in the Indo-Pacific as part of Mission CLEMENCEAU 25, the French Carrier Strike Group (CSG), led by the Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier, is conducting the fifth edition of the multinational exercise LA PEROUSE 25 from 16th to 24th January 2025.

Nine Indo-Pacific nations are participating in this major exercise:

- Australia with the destroyer HMAS Hobart,
- Canada with the destroyer HMCS Ottawa,
- the United States of America with the LCS USS Savannah,
- France with its French CSG,
- India with the destroyer INS Mumbai,
- Indonesia providing base support on land for the Atlantique 2 maritime patrol     aircraft of French CSG,
- Malaysia with the destroyer FFG Lekir and its embarked helicopter and the vessel Gagah Samudera,
- the United Kingdom with the offshore patrol vessel HMS Spey; and
- Singapore with the patrol vessel RSN Independence.

The naval exercise is being held in the straits between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean: Malacca, Sunda and Lombok. These straits, mainstays of global maritime trade, are subject to numerous human-induced risks such as maritime accidents and environmental hazards, illegal immigration, drug trafficking, and natural risks like earthquakes and tsunamis.

Strengthening maritime safety will be at the core of this exercise, with the development of interoperability and the ability to act collectively in the event of a maritime crisis, which will contribute to it.

The planned interactions will enable work on a broad spectrum of maritime security operations. The various forces distributed in the area will train to search for and then intervene on ships suspected of illicit activities; with suspect vessels being played by vessels of the force.

During this exercise, all navies will train in the use of IORIS, a communication and coordination system dedicated to the exchange of information, documents in order to effectively and collectively face a maritime crisis in a synchronized manner.

France, a resident power of the Indo-Pacific, works for a free, open and stable Indo-Pacific through its prepositioned forces in the area, through regular deployments from the mainland and through its regular participation in joint military exercises like LA PEROUSE 25.

Who is La Pérouse?
Jean-François de Galaup, “comte de La Pérouse”, is one of the greatest French navigators and explorers. In 1785, La Pérouse was entrusted by the King Louis XVI to lead an expedition around the world, with two frigates, the Boussole and the Astrolabe, to complete James Cook’s discoveries in the Pacific and study the possibilities of trade with the countries visited. This expedition through South America, Easter Island, Hawaii, Alaska, California, Macao, the Philippines and Australia tragically ended in the Solomon Islands in 1788. Another great French explorer, Jules Dumont d’Urville, discovered the remains of the wreck in 1826 on the island of Vanikoro.