Eastern fleet exercise begins

SURABAYA: The Navy's Eastern Fleet launched a large-scale exercise on Friday centered in waters near the country's easternmost province of Irian Jaya.

Code named Dalla 2000, some 32 naval vessels along with three helicopters, four aircraft and 2,700 personnel are involved in the combat-readiness exercise.

Speaking to journalists after the launch of the exercise, Eastern Fleet Commander Rear Adm. Adi Haryono said Dalla 2000 was designed to heighten the preparedness against possible intrusion by foreign ships into Indonesia's territorial waters.

"The deployment of so many ships in the exercise will hopefully discourage illegal activities either by foreign or domestic ships," he said as quoted by Antara.

"This is the biggest exercise in the past few years," he said.

"In the exercise, the ships will fire artillery and missiles, and conduct maneuvers to keep intruders away," Haryono said.