Southeast Asia terror exercise under way

SINGAPORE, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy is taking part in an annual multinational exercise designed to test maritime counter-terrorism readiness in Southeast Asia.

The U.S. Navy and navies from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore are participating in the annual Southeast Asia Cooperation Against Terrorism exercise. The joint exercise is being held through Thursday.

Officials say SEACAT is an effort to bring together Southeast Asian navies and the U.S. Navy to test counter-terrorism interoperability and coordination to enhance capabilities in the event of an emergency incident.

As part of the mock terrorism exercises, ships moving through Singapore waters will be "tracked, and liaison officers from the Singapore navy and other navies on board a U.S. Navy platform will compile and analyze the data to create a shared maritime picture for enhanced situational awareness," the release said.