T

hree warships from the French Navy and the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy will dock at Jakarta’s Tanjung Priok Port on Sunday.

The French Navy’s Jeanne d’Arc training task force will include the Mistral-class Dixmude landing helicopter dock (LHD) and the La Fayette-class Surcouf stealthy frigate, the French Embassy said in a statement on Friday.

Dixmude, which also serves as a command ship, and Surcouf will then sail to Bali to participate in the multilateral naval Komodo Exercise in nearby Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara.

The Jeanne d’Arc task force, which left port on Feb. 26 from France’s largest naval base in Toulon, has a crew of 209 under the command of Capt. Jean Porcher, the statement said.

On board are also 80 officer cadets from the France Naval Academy, including 10 from Benin, Cameroon, Madagascar, Lebanon, Ivory Coast, Congo Brazzaville, Gabon and Senegal.

The task force has sailed to the Mediterranean, Lebanon, Djibouti, India, Southeast Asia and Australia during its five month deployment.

Other than on-the-job-training for officer cadets, the task force has other goals: operational deployment in areas of strategic interest, interoperability and international cooperation, foundation of many operations and naval support for diplomacy.

The task force is also hosting some 30 Royal Navy sailors and two Wildcat helicopters during the mission.

Also on board are 20 Spanish Army soldiers and two Cougar helicopters.

For their part, the French have three helicopters: one navy Alouette III and two army Gazelle light helicopters.

Dixmude can carry up to 16 heavy helicopters or up to 35 light helicopters.

Meanwhile, the British Embassy said in a separate statement that HMS Albion would dock until Wednesday.

The Albion is a landing platform dock (LPD) on which the crew will conduct bilateral talks between the Indonesian Navy and the United Kingdom defense industry.

The crew is also scheduled to visit Nuruz Zahroh orphanage in Koja, North Jakarta, which is located nearby to the port.

“We have a growing defense relationship with Indonesia that supports our joint security interests and promotes prosperity,” British Ambassador Moazzam Malik said in the statement.

“The deployment of HMS Albion in Indonesia provides an opportunity to support our partners in delivering maritime security in the region.”

Malik maintained that like Indonesia, the UK had a strong maritime history. “We will both remain maritime nations. It is in both of our interests to enjoy secure, accessible and sustainable maritime domains,” he said.

Albion, under the command of Capt. Tim Neil, has a crew of more than 300 sailors and can accommodate more than 400 marines.

It also has two landing spots for helicopters as large as CH-47 Chinook heavy helicopters.