Exercise Sea Spark was the codename of a series of major
naval exercise
A military exercise or war game is the employment of military resources in training for military operations, either exploring the effects of warfare or testing strategies without actual combat. This also serves the purpose of ensuring the comb ...
s conducted by the
Pakistan Navy
ur, ہمارے لیے اللّٰہ کافی ہے اور وہ بہترین کارساز ہے۔ English language, English: Allah is Sufficient for us - and what an excellent (reliable) Trustee (of affairs) is He!(''Quran, Qur'an, Al Imran, 3:173' ...
to simulate naval warfare and the protection of the country's maritime border.
Operation Readiness
The first exercise took place in the
North Arabian Sea
The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...
and started on 17 September 2012. The navy officials stated that exercises were aimed at assessing "operational readiness" and providing an opportunity to the officers and sailors to operate in a multi-threat environment and to exercise their responses accordingly.
In 2015 part of ''Exercise Sea Spark'' was witnessed by the prime minister. The Navy demonstrated a range of naval warfare operations against both traditional and non-traditional targets. Included were countering threats from terrorists and pirates. There were live weapon firings and naval aviation fly-bys.
Deployment
The navy deployed all active-duty
combatant ships,
submarines
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely o ...
,
fighter jets
Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...
and the
special operations forces, including the entire division of
Marines and the
naval establishments to cover the entire gamut of naval operations.
The exercise also included the joint involvement of the
army and
air force for the special joint operations.
The navy put special emphasis on conventional and non-conventional war games, including the features of army (designated the "Blue forces") and air force (designated the Orange forces) pitching against navy (to determine the naval capabilities in joint operations) in specific threat environment.
See also
*
Pakistan military exercises
Military exercises are conducted by the Pakistan Armed Forces to increase combat readiness, and to identify problems in logistics, training, and current military doctrine.''The objective of the war games is to assess military tactics, techniques a ...
Notes and news release
Video conference
*{{cite web, title=Briefing of Rear Admiral Hashim Siddique, url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es7ULODnX9g, publisher=ISPR (Navy), accessdate=1 November 2012
Pakistan naval exercises
Pakistani military exercises
2012 in military history
Naval operations involving Pakistan