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South Africa Hosts China-Led Naval Drill With Russia and Iran Near Cape Sea Lane.
South Africa is hosting Exercise WILL FOR PEACE 2026 from 9 to 16 January, bringing together naval forces from China, Russia, Iran, and South Africa in waters around Simon’s Town and False Bay. While officially framed as a maritime security and interoperability drill, the exercise carries broader implications by showcasing coordinated operations near one of the world’s most critical alternative shipping routes.
Information released by the South African Government on 30 December 2025 confirms that South Africa is hosting Exercise WILL FOR PEACE 2026 from 9 to 16 January in its territorial waters under a China-led multinational framework. Officially framed around “Joint Actions to Ensure the Safety of Shipping and Maritime Economic Activities,” the drill is presented as a maritime security and interoperability exercise. However, the choice of participants, the composition of the deployed naval assets, and the geographic setting around the Cape sea lane collectively elevate the exercise from a technical training event to a deliberate geopolitical and strategic message with implications well beyond Southern African waters.
South Africa is hosting a China-led multinational naval drill with Russia and Iran near the strategic Cape sea lanes, underscoring growing maritime cooperation along a critical global trade route (Picture Source: Social Media / Reuters)
The geographic setting of WILL FOR PEACE 2026 is central to its strategic meaning. Conducted around Simon’s Town and False Bay, the exercise unfolds at the junction between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, adjacent to one of the world’s most critical alternative maritime routes when the Suez Canal or Red Sea axis is disrupted. From a naval perspective, this environment allows realistic escort, interception, and port-approach security drills amid dense commercial traffic. From a geopolitical standpoint, operating a multinational task group in this area signals an ability and willingness by participating states to demonstrate collective responsibility for a globally relevant sea line of communication, independent of Western-led maritime security frameworks.
China’s role as lead nation is reinforced by the deployment of the guided-missile destroyer Tangshan and the replenishment ship Taihu. Tangshan, a modern area-air-defense destroyer, brings command-and-control, escort coordination, and layered protection capabilities that are directly relevant to convoy defense and high-value shipping escort missions. Its participation enables the rehearsal of formation screening, air and surface surveillance integration, and helicopter-supported maritime patrols. Taihu, meanwhile, provides the logistical backbone that transforms the drill into an endurance-oriented task group exercise, allowing sustained operations at sea and realistic training in replenishment procedures that underpin a persistent maritime presence.
Russia’s contribution adds a complementary escort and sustainment layer through the Steregushchiy-class corvette Stoikiy and the fleet tanker Yelnya. Stoikiy’s configuration, optimized for surface surveillance, limited air defense, and anti-submarine warfare, aligns closely with maritime security scenarios such as escort station assignments and coastal approach protection. Even if operational constraints reduce its at-sea profile, the presence of a corvette-sized combatant remains well suited for interdiction drills and coordinated patrols. Yelnya reinforces the logistics dimension, highlighting that sustainment and endurance are integral to the exercise rather than peripheral considerations.
Iran’s participation introduces the most politically sensitive dimension. Visual documentation from the exercise area shows the forward base ship Makran operating alongside the assembled formation, supported by the patrol combatant Naghdi. Makran’s role as an afloat support and helicopter-capable platform demonstrates Iran’s growing emphasis on extended deployments and expeditionary reach. Within the context of WILL FOR PEACE 2026, it enables complex rescue, medical support, and maritime security serials while simultaneously signaling Iran’s capacity to operate far from home waters in coordination with other non-Western navies.
As the host nation, South Africa provides the operational anchor and regional legitimacy for the exercise. The South African Navy’s Valour-class frigates, when employed in such a scenario, offer balanced escort, air-defense, and surface-surveillance capabilities well suited to shipping protection and port-approach security. More broadly, South Africa’s role underscores a deliberate diplomatic posture: presenting the exercise as technical and non-hostile while facilitating a China-led, BRICS Plus-aligned naval activity at a strategic maritime crossroads. This duality allows Pretoria to emphasize professional naval cooperation while implicitly supporting a more diversified global maritime order.
Viewed as a whole, the force package assembled for WILL FOR PEACE 2026 goes beyond the requirements of a narrow maritime safety drill. The combination of high-end escorts, corvette-sized patrol combatants, and multiple replenishment and support ships rehearses the practical mechanics of coalition task group operations, including command relationships, logistics coordination, and sustained presence. These are precisely the capabilities required to protect maritime commerce under contested conditions, and their rehearsal under a BRICS Plus banner carries clear strategic resonance.
Exercise WILL FOR PEACE 2026 illustrates how maritime security drills can function simultaneously as professional training events and strategic communication tools. While officially focused on safeguarding shipping and economic activity, the China-led exercise brings together South Africa, China, Russia, and Iran in a sustained naval configuration at one of the world’s most important sea junctions. In operational terms, it builds interoperability and endurance for convoy protection missions. In geopolitical terms, it signals the emergence of a BRICS Plus maritime cooperation pattern designed to operate visibly and credibly outside traditional Western-led security structures, reshaping how maritime influence and responsibility are demonstrated along global sea lanes.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.