Throughout Neptune Strike 2023-1 (NEST 23.1), 31 ships, 135 plane, and eight,386 Sailors and Marines from 21 international locations demonstrated deterrence and assurance via execution of a broad spectrum of sea, air, and land actions. These actions show that the maritime partnerships of the NATO Alliance, now working in its seventh decade, stay as robust and related as ever.
“I am pleased with this staff’s efficiency in displaying interchangeability whereas conducting extraordinarily complicated high-end actions,” stated Vice Adm. Ishee, commander of each STRIKFORNATO and U.S. Sixth Fleet. “The safety atmosphere is unsure; NATO’s functionality and can is just not. Enabled by belief, the agility, ingenuity and tenacity demonstrated by the Sailors, Marines, and Airmen deter aggression and present we’re able to defend the Alliance.”
This newest iteration of the Undertaking Neptune collection centered on the George H.W. Bush Provider Strike Group, Italian plane service ITS Cavour, and Spanish amphibious assault ship ESPS Juan Carlos I, all working within the Mediterranean Sea. Supporting models from Greece, Türkiye, Croatia, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Albania all contributed forces, underscoring cohesive alliance integration.
Within the Baltic Sea, the primary in-class guided-missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) and German frigate FGS Hessen demonstrated NATO’s skill to coordinate throughout huge distances and differing environments to discourage aggression and ship deterrence and protection of the Alliance. The ships participated in complicated simulated concentrating on workouts the place they engaged and destroyed a Danish drone plane, validating NATO’s skill to conduct built-in air and missile protection.
On Feb. 23, French plane service FS Charles de Gaulle, working beneath French nationwide command, joined the three NATO strike teams crusing within the Mediterranean, rising the allied plane service depend within the area to 4. Over the course of two days, the Charles de Gaulle, alongside together with her embarked air wing of Rafale fighter plane, coordinated with the opposite three carriers to carry out simulated service strike and service protection actions, strengthening collective protection.
In complete, 37 vigilance actions passed off over the course of NEST 23.1, consisting of 198 plane sorties, two joint personnel restoration workouts, and two simulated tri-carrier strike operations. The tri-carrier strikes mark the primary time three plane carriers have carried out simulated strikes of this nature with NATO. NEST 23.1 proved that NATO has each the resolve and technical capabilities to reply any menace, anyplace, at any time.
Whereas the numbers are spectacular, what the profitable execution of NEST 23.1 represents is the dedication of NATO as one alliance to defend all of its member states via superior capabilities and interchangeability.
NEST 23.1 is the pure evolution of NATO’s skill to combine the high-end maritime strike capabilities of Allied plane service strike teams and expeditionary strike teams to help the protection of the Alliance.
Vigilance Actions are day-to-day actions, occurring in all domains and throughout SACEUR’s space of accountability, to make sure applicable strategic consciousness and power readiness required to maintain peace.
For over 80 years, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-U.S. Naval Forces Africa (NAVEUR-NAVAF) has cast strategic relationships with allies and companions, leveraging a basis of shared values to protect safety and stability.
Headquartered in Naples, Italy, NAVEUR-NAVAF operates U.S. naval forces within the U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) and U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM) areas of accountability. U.S. Sixth Fleet is completely assigned to NAVEUR-NAVAF, and employs maritime forces via the complete spectrum of joint and naval operations.
STRIKFORNATO, headquartered in Oeiras, Portugal, is Supreme Allied Commander Europe’s (SACEUR) premier, quickly deployable and versatile, maritime energy projection Headquarters, able to planning and executing full spectrum joint maritime operations.
