Australia's Pacific Support Vessel, Australian Defence Vessel (ADV) Reliant, has departed Darwin on its second deployment of 2025, responding to needs and requests made by our Pacific partners.
ADV Reliant and her crew, including a Royal Australian Navy liaison officer, will spend the next three months visiting Pacific island countries delivering vital stores and equipment as part of Australia's ongoing commitment to the region.
During the deployment, ADV Reliant will deliver humanitarian assistance and disaster relief stores to Fiji and protective equipment to His Majesty's Armed Forces of Tonga to support their contribution to Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025.
ADV Reliant is deployed for up to 300 days a year utilising a multi-crew system to provide vital support such as search and rescue, maritime surveillance, transport of essential cargo, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
Chief of Joint Operations, Vice Admiral Justin Jones, RAN said ADV Reliant supports the combined response by Australia and Pacific island countries to regional challenges.
"We recognise our region experiences concurrent threats and disasters, having impacts on multiple nations at various scales of severity," he said.
"The Pacific family is best placed to respond to the needs of our region."
"The Pacific has a proud record of working together across common security concerns, which will continue long into the future," Vice Admiral Jones said.
ADV Reliant will also deliver essential spares and stores to Fiji, Tonga and Tuvalu needed to support the operation of their Guardian-Class Patrol Boats delivered through the Pacific Maritime Security Program.
ADV Reliant's previous deployment saw the delivery of firetrucks to Kiribati, emergency service supplies and infrastructure support to Tonga, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief stores to Solomon Islands.
During earlier deployments, the ADV Reliant has also conducted hydrographic survey taskings to support safe navigation in vicinity of Pacific island ports.
