A fleet of international warships is departing Darwin Harbour for Exercise Kakadu, but not before some unconventional competition between the nations involving inflatable crocodiles.
Led by the Royal Australian Navy, the biennial exercise brings together more than 30 international allies to undertake high-end maritime warfare over 10 days, starting on Thursday.
But the Top End's flora and fauna pose a particularly unique set of risks, which exercise director Captain Dave Teiztel says they try to address with some "fun and games".
On Wednesday, the nations took part in the Ninja Cup, an inflatable assault course set up on Darwin's waterfront, where teams had to climb, slide and run while keeping a blow-up croc 'alive'.
"Each of the nations get to wear their colours and their ships colours as they go out for the sporting challenge," Capt Teiztel said.
"They'll be carrying the crocodile as they get through the Ninja Cup ... and then this afternoon, they get the opportunity to do cultural dances, wear their cultural dress, put on some cultural food, and have some local festivities.
"An experience we can all share."
The day supports "interoperability", which will be critical when at sea for the exercise and aims to break down cultural and language barriers, while also helping personnel acclimatise to the Territory's impending build-up.
The Arafura Sea will become the battleground for 13 warships, a submarine, 10 aircraft and 3200 uniformed personnel from 32 participating nations during the next 10 days.
It comes a month after Exercise Pitch Black, the Royal Australian Airforce's largest international exercise, took flight over Darwin's airspace.
Exercise Kakadu has 32 years of history in Darwin and multinational exercises are becoming commonplace, as Defence strengthens its capability in the north and with Asia-Pacific neighbours.
Japan-based US Navy Commander Nicholas Maruca said the Pacific was strategically important.
"Any opportunity we can get to get together, to exercise and promote free and open Indo-Pacific is highly important," he said.
"Being with Australia and the US, the other 10 nations is always huge, because it's just about teamwork and learning to be interoperable together and being able to have a common roll out here in the Indo-Pacific."
