By Li Tang and Wang Guanbiao

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Nov. 29 (ChinaMil) -- On November 28, local time, the joint maritime exercise code-named Mosi, which is held by China, Russia and South Africa in waters of southern Africa, entered the sea operation phase.

On Thursday morning during the drills, the formation consisting of Chinese, Russian, and South African naval vessels changed from the single column to a circular formation, upon receiving information from the South African Navy frigate Amatola in waters near the Port of Cape Town.

Formation maneuver is the first subject of this joint fleet exercise. The three naval forces also conducted other training subjects including surface gunnery exercise, helicopter cross-deck landings on Thursday and Friday.

"The multilateral exercise emphasizes protecting navigation and the security of maritime economic activities, which covers various military forces. Prior to this, the three navies had conducted consultations on the joint exercise schemes and carried out pre-training for marines to rescue hijacked ships. They enhanced coordination and cooperation abilities during the drills, laying a solid foundation for the following actual combat training", said Dong Fangliang, Captain of guided-missile frigate Weifang (Hull 550) of the PLA Navy.

This is the first trilateral exercise of Chinese, Russian and South African navies in the southern waters off Africa. The participating forces include the PLA Navy’s Type 054A frigate Weifang (Hull 550), the Russian Navy’s Slava-class missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov, Kaliningradneft-class medium seagoing tanker Vyaz’ma, and rescue tug SB-406, as well as the SAS Amatola (F145), South Africa’s Valour-class frigate, and SAS Drakensberg (A301), a fleet replenishment ship (AOR).