Eight Navies Complete East African Exercise Cutlass Express 2012
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Story Number: NNS121108-03Release Date: 11/8/2012 10:52:00 AM
By Lt. Nathan Potter, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/Commander, U.S. 6th
Fleet Public Affairs
Thursday, November 8, 2012
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (NNS) -- Sailors and maritime professionals from
eight nations wrapped up Exercise Cutlass Express 2012-2 (CE12-2) after a
week of multinational maritime events in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden,
Nov. 1-8.
This year's exercise took place at sea in the vicinity of Djibouti,
Djibouti; Port Louis, Mauritius and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania with
coordination among regional maritime operations centers.
Participating countries in CE12-2 include Djibouti, Mauritius, Mozambique,
the Netherlands, the Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda, and the United States.
Held only for the second time since its inauguration last fall, Cutlass
Express is an East African maritime exercise focusing on counter-piracy,
counter-narcotics and illegal fishing, that focuses on information sharing
and coordinated operations among international navies.
"We came here to work together with others in East African and to learn from
one another," said Mozambique navy 1st Lt. Zacarias Moreno, operations
officer for Mozambique's naval headquarters. "We know that working together
and sharing information is the way to decrease piracy."
Throughout the week, participants honed their skills in maritime
interdiction operations including visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS)
techniques and practiced first aid techniques before heading out to sea to
test their training in events based on real-world scenarios.
"This has been a good experience for the Royal Netherlands Navy and Marine
Corps' VBSS trainers to share standard operating and tactical procedures
from recent experiences with East African and U.S. partners," said Maj.
Patrick van Rooij, Royal Netherlands Navy's headquarters operations planner.
"This will help to improve maritime interdiction and VBSS skills with navies
in this important region," van Rooij said.
Scenarios included counter-piracy, illicit trafficking and illegal fishing;
issues that threaten not only East Africa, but all maritime nations.
Vessels that participated in the weeklong exercise ranged from small
rigid-hulled inflatable boats (RHIBs) to HNLMS Rotterdam (L800), flagship of
Operation Ocean Shield, NATO's anti-piracy campaign off the Horn of Africa.
At sea, participating vessels coordinated with regional maritime operation
centers in Djibouti, Tanzania, and Mauritius, to share information about
simulated threats such as vessels suspected of piracy, smuggling drugs and
weapons, or conducting illegal fishing. Once confirmed, boarding teams were
sent to investigate and disrupt these simulated activities.
But navies cannot work alone.
U.S. Navy Cmdr. Sueann Schorr, Cutlass Express exercise control group lead,
who oversees the communications of the vessels from shore, spoke of the
importance of navies and civilian maritime organizations working together.
"The extent that civilian maritime rescue coordination centers (MRCCs) and
international navies were able to work together during this exercise has
been quite impressive," she said. "By practicing the scenarios, standard
operating procedures were developed and refined for each location and
situation. I believe that MRCCs and participating navies involved now feel
more confident in their ability to deal with a situation involving piracy,
illicit trafficking or illegal fishing."
CE12-2 is one of four regional Express Series exercises and puts to test
skills learned from previous Africa Partnership Station (APS) engagements.
Earlier this year, APS events in East Africa were facilitated by high-speed
vessel Swift (HSV 2) with port visits to Mozambique, Tanzania and Djibouti
as well as theater-security cooperation port visits to South Africa.
APS is an international security cooperation initiative, facilitated by
Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa, aimed at strengthening global
maritime partnerships through training and collaborative activities in order
to improve maritime safety and security in Africa.
For more news from Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa/U.S. 6th
Fleet, visit <
http://www.navy.mil/local/naveur> www.navy.mil/local/naveur/.
Received on Thu Nov 08 2012 - 14:57:44 EST
