Fiji sent a naval presence to Sydney last weekend as part of the Royal Australian Navy’s 125th Anniversary celebrations, with the Republic of Fiji Navy’s RFNS Timo joining 29 other vessels from 18 countries in the Exercise Kakadu Fleet Review. The Royal Australian Navy said the event was the largest gathering of international warships in Sydney Harbour in more than a decade, and formed one phase of the biennial Exercise Kakadu maritime exercise hosted by Australia.
Exercise Kakadu, held every two years, brings together regional and extra-regional navies for surface, subsurface and maritime interoperability activities. The fleet review — a long-standing naval tradition in which a reviewing officer inspects assembled warships — was staged alongside a broader programme of exercises and professional exchanges involving participating nations. The RAN characterised the review as a high-profile display of international naval cooperation and a commemorative highlight of its 125th anniversary.
Fiji Navy said RFNS Timo “played an active role” in the exercise and the international fleet review. More substantively, senior Fijian officers used the Sydney gathering for professional engagement ashore: Commander Joseva Tunidau, Commander Navy Fleet, delivered a briefing at the International Maritime Conference on undersea mining and the security of undersea communications cables in the Pacific. Those topics have heightened importance across the region as interest in seabed resources grows and the vulnerability of subsea cable networks to disruption attracts greater attention from governments.
Chief of the Fiji Navy, Commodore Timoci Natuva, also held talks on the margins of the event, engaging with other naval chiefs and taking part in bilateral discussions with leaders of the Royal Australian Navy and regional naval representatives. Fiji’s participation provided opportunities to discuss common concerns, training and interoperability — themes consistent with recent national efforts to bolster maritime capability and cooperation.
Fiji’s presence in Sydney follows a series of capacity-building steps by Suva in recent years, including cross-agency maritime training initiatives and discussions with Australia on ports and shipbuilding support. Officials say such engagements form part of a broader push to improve maritime security, surveillance and regional collaboration in the face of transnational crime, climate-related impacts at sea, and growing strategic interest in the Pacific.
The naval review and associated conference highlights the dual purpose of international naval exercises: ceremonial commemoration and practical exchange. For smaller Pacific navies such as Fiji’s, participating in Exercise Kakadu offers exposure to multinational operations, access to senior defence interlocutors and a platform to raise region-specific concerns — notably those now being brought to the fore about undersea resource extraction and protection of critical communications infrastructure.
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