Navy practises submarine hunting off WA coast

A flotilla of six warships and a submarine accompanied by New Zealand and Royal Australian Air Force assets are taking part in the biggest anti-submarine war games in recent years off the West Australian coast.

The 2025 anti-submarine war exercise launched from HMAS Stirling south of Perth on Tuesday morning and will run for the next three weeks.

Royal Australian Navy frigates alongside HMAS Stirling in Rockingham.Credit: Navy Imagery Unit

The goal of the exercise is to sharpen the skills of more than 1300 navy and air force personnel to hunt and target submarines lurking off the coast.

The submarine and warships will be joined by MH-60R Seahawk helicopters and P-8 Poseidon aircraft, and the exercise will span much of the southern half of the state.

Commodore Simon Howard said the exercise was the largest in recent memory.

“The Australian Defence Force is able to meet any threats to our maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region. Our navy is working hard and committed to the protection of Australia and its interests,” he said.

“We are one fleet: Focused, lethal and ready.”

The war games come less than a month after three Chinese warships circumnavigated Australia in late February and early March.

Howard said the training was vital to ensure protection of Australian harbours, ports and shipping lanes.

“We are an island nation. Western Australia has a coastline close to 13,000 kilometres,” he said.

“Over 90 per cent of Australia’s trade goes by sea, and around 60 per cent of that goes through West Australian ports so it is appropriate and important that we’re holding this exercise off the coastline of Western Australia for the next three weeks.”

The warships will also make port visits to Bunbury and Geraldton during the exercise.

The RAAF’s involvement in the war games comes less than a week after a P-8A Poseidon crew took part in a US exercise out of its Andersen Air Base in Guam, known as the Sea Dragon.

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