Closing ceremony caps CARAT Brunei 2026

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei — Maritime forces from Brunei and the United States marked the conclusion of Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) Brunei 2026 with a closing ceremony on Sept. 18, capping a week-long bilateral exercise centered on shared maritime security challenges and regional stability.

This year’s drills brought together U.S. Coast Guard Sentinel-class fast response cutter USCGC Emlen Tunnell (WPC 1145), Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Canberra (LCS 30), and a Royal Brunei Navy Darussalam-class offshore patrol vessel, PV-80, operating with a Sikorsky S-70i Black Hawk helicopter. A U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft from Commander, Task Force (CTF) 72 also participated, alongside staff and personnel from U.S. 7th Fleet, Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 7, CTF 73, CTF 75, CTF 77, and the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific.

“While assets, security priorities, and personnel change, the core mission of CARAT remains the same: promote regional security, strengthen maritime partnerships, and enhance interoperability,” said Cmdr. Doug Ivey, chief staff officer of Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 7. “For 32 years, we have worked together to make each CARAT more complex, engaging, and meaningful.”

At sea in the South China Sea, combined forces executed high-end anti-submarine warfare exercises, maritime interdiction operations, and command-and-control coordination. The units also carried out combined maritime security operations intended to validate their ability to function as a unified force.

Ashore, participants built ties through a bilateral sports day and community service projects. Service members also conducted subject-matter expert exchanges and practical education serials, sharing best practices in areas such as maritime domain awareness, diving, and visit, board, search and seizure. CARAT is a long-running exercise series aimed at improving how U.S. and partner forces operate together in response to shared maritime challenges across the Indo-Pacific.

The Coast Guard Expeditionary Cutter Squadron, a deployable force of fast response cutters with embedded command, logistics, and support capabilities, enables sustained forward operations from partner-nation locations. As the Navy’s forward-deployed destroyer squadron in Southeast Asia, DESRON 7 serves as the primary tactical and operational commander for ships deployed to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations.

U.S. 7th Fleet, the Navy’s largest forward-deployed numbered fleet, works routinely with allies and partners to support a free and open Indo-Pacific.