U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet

Multi-Domain Readiness in action!🌊⬆️➡️⬇️ US Navy Ticonderoga-class cruiser #USSNormandy (CG 60) and Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine #USSTennessee (SSBN 734) steam alongside in the #NorwegianSea while a P-8A Poseidon and E-6B Mercury fly overhead, June 23, 2024. United States Department of Defense U.S. European Command Commander, Submarine Forces | Commander, Submarine Force Atlantic U.S. Fleet Forces Command

Exercise #ObangameExpress2024 is in the books! 32 nations, 5,000 personnel, and 108 distinct exercise scenarios played out across West & Central Africa from May 6-17, 2024. Obangame Express, Africa’s premier maritime exercise, provides an opportunity for participating navies to improve communications, both ship to shore and between maritime operation centers (MOCs), through realistic training scenarios that build interoperability and enhance the maritime security environment. These efforts support a more secure, safe, and economically prosperous maritime environment. The exercise kicked off with an opening ceremony at the Cadet School of Libreville, May 6, as Gabonese Defense Minister Major General Brigitte Onkanowa, U.S. Ambassador to Gabon Vernelle Trim FitzPatrick, and Rear Adm. Michael Mattis, Director of Strategic Effects for U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa (NAVEUR-NAVAF), ushered in the 13th iteration of West and Central Africa’s largest maritime exercise. “The Republic of Gabon and our African partners are the cornerstone of Obangame Express. This collaboration has been instrumental in strengthening maritime governance and security, crucial for the economic vitality of a region where over 90 percent of trade is conducted by sea,” said FitzPatrick. “Together, in our shared Atlantic Basin, we are tackling pressing challenges posed by malign actors, such as illegal fishing, piracy, and illicit trafficking, which threaten not only local economies but also global commerce, safety, and the marine environment.” After the exercise officially began, Obangame Express participants quickly got to work. From Cabo Verde and Senegal in the north, to Angola in the south, and everywhere in between (a coastline that stretches for thousands of nautical miles), partners and allies embarked on a robust program of land-based and at-sea events throughout a vast operating area. As the host nation, Gabon served as the primary hub for exercise command and control. A multinational contingent of liaison officers (LNOs) and NAVAF personnel led the exercise from the exercise control group (ECG) in Libreville. For more, visit https://lnkd.in/dtHtEfb8. #maritimesecurity #partnershipsmatter U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) | U.S. Department of State | US Navy |

From pollywogs to trusty shellbacks! Eight members of the U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa (NAVEUR-NAVAF) Topside Brass Band, along with two other US Navy Sailors, marked a unique milestone while supporting exercise Obangame Express 2024 in Gabon. The contingent embarked on Gabonese Navy ship (RPB20) MAYUMBA, commanded by LTJG Darnela MBOUMBA MBOUMBA, the Gabonese Navy’s first female commanding officer, to sail from Gabon’s capital Libreville to the port city of Port Gentil, May 8. During the initial transit, the Band and their Gabonese counterparts crossed the equator from North to South, a tradition in many navies known as “crossing the line.” According to the tradition, pollywogs, or those who have not yet crossed the equator, must complete a variety of tasks and initiation rites to gain acceptance from King Neptune and become inducted into the “Solemn Mysteries of the Ancient Order of the Deep,” according to the Naval History and Heritage Command. Upon acceptance, they are no longer seen as pollywogs but as trusty shellbacks. “We can spend years of our career without crossing the equator on a ship. To get to do it twice in one week, on a Gabonese vessel, is one of those unforgettable Navy moments,” said Chief Musician Joseph Schoonmaker, the Band’s lead planner for Obangame Express. “The Gabonese Sailors were surely amused at our enthusiasm for crossing the line, considering how often they do it. We will be telling this sea story for years.” While underway, the NAVAF delegation learned a bit about Gabonese Navy operations and got to know their counterparts, strengthening interpersonal relationships and highlighting commonalities among mariners. “Our journey on the Gabonese ship was a unique experience that highlights the relationship between our two navies,” said Musician 1st Class Tim Deal, the Topside Brass Band's Unit Leader. “The Gabonese were very gracious and even provided us with a home-cooked meal of rice, beef and plantains.” For more on the Band's trip to West Africa, check out https://lnkd.in/d8CF5mY4!

Did you know that exercise #ObangameExpress2024 bolsters awareness of, and adherence to, the Yaoundé Code of Conduct? The Yaoundé Code of Conduct (YCoC) provides a framework and governing instruction on maritime coordination and collaboration throughout West and Central Africa. Borne out of a need for a common regional strategy to address transnational threats in the Gulf of Guinea, the YCoC has been in place for over a decade and has proven an integral component of maritime security and stability in the region. The heart of the YCoC centers on continued regional collaboration and a sense of trust among neighboring countries and YCoC signatories. Maritime threats are not relegated to one nation’s territorial waters, so collaboration is essential to the economies and livelihoods of all West African nations. What affects Senegal’s Exclusive Economic Zone can affect the waters of Angola and Namibia. Illicit activity off the coast of Cabo Verde can have repercussions in Gabon and the Republic of Congo. This interconnectedness presents challenges and opportunities. “Given the maritime transnational threats facing the Gulf of Guinea, no State could effectively resolve this maritime security problem alone, hence the regional maritime security and safety strategies adopted by the Regional Economic Communities,” said Captain Emmanuel Bell Bell, Head of the Information and Communication Management Division at the INTER-REGIONAL COORDINATION CENTRE. In order to truly hone a collective regional response to threats, exercise Obangame Express, by design, takes place across more than 6,000 kilometers in Western and Central African waters. Rather than partner nations coming to one country and one MOC to train, exercise serials will take place across all zones, from Senegal to Angola, mirroring the zones of the YCoC. “The key to success in the Obangame Express series of exercises is leveraging the experiences, capabilities and functionalities of all of our African partners, and leveraging them across the entire Yaoundé Code of Conduct area,” said US Navy Capt. Harish Patel, Obangame Express exercise director. “Obangame Express participants are united in a common purpose – working together to ensure maritime security across Western Africa. We are excited to work toward that goal during the course of the exercise.” For more, check out https://lnkd.in/drfgTVMB!

Exercise #ObangameExpress2024 kicked off this week in Libreville, Gabon! West Africa’s premier maritime exercise, Obangame Express improves regional cooperation in support of the Yaoundé Code of Conduct and enhances maritime domain awareness, information sharing between Maritime Operation Centers (MOC), maritime interdiction procedures, adherence to the rule of law, and counter-proliferation interdiction capabilities. “Obangame” means “togetherness” in the Fang language, which is spoken primarily in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. As highest authorities of the event, Gabonese Defense Minister, Major General Brigitte Onkanowa, U.S. Department of State Ambassador to Gabon Vernelle Trim FitzPatrick, and US Navy Rear Adm. Michael Mattis, Director of Strategic Effects for NAVEUR-NAVAF, delivered remarks at the opening ceremony and officially ushered in the exercise from the Gabonese capital city. “After six years, Gabon is back on the international naval stage, a second time, to host the 13th edition of exercise Obangame Express. It is an honor and a privilege for our country and mainly our Navy to do it, as we continue to work, side by side, with our partners and Allies in this critical and strategic region of the world,” said RDML Charles Hubert Bekale Meyong. “Obangame means ‘togetherness,’ and it is in this spirit of togetherness that we welcome so many of our friends to this exercise as we deepen interoperability and enhance our collective capabilities in the maritime domain.” Over the next two weeks, exercise participants will train on a variety of exercise serials, including integration between MOCs, Multinational Maritime Coordination Centers and the Interregional Coordination Center; visit, board, search, and seizure (VBSS) scenarios; women, peace and security (WPS) events; medical, legal and public communications training; and information and process sharing, all designed to combat illicit activity, including smuggling, oil bunkering, and illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing. Refining operational procedures and gaining a deeper understanding on an interpersonal level is fundamental to what makes Obangame Express such an important part of the maritime security infrastructure in West and Central Africa. “There really is no substitute to coming together in person and training alongside one another in exercises like this,” said Mattis. “Obangame Express remains the premier maritime exercise in West and Central Africa due to the outstanding efforts of professionals from dozens of countries year in and year out. We are thrilled to learn from our partners and Allies as we test our individual and combined capabilities and procedures over the next two weeks.” For more information, check out https://lnkd.in/dyXqjj_U and follow along for the next two weeks on our DVIDS feature page at net/feature/obangameexpress2024!

#AMFS / #NILSA is underway! 🌊 Maritime & governmental leaders from around the 🌍 have gathered in Accra, Ghana 🇬🇭 for the three day combined AMFS/NILS-A, the largest continent-wide event of its kind. ⚓️ “AMFS and NILS-A help all of us to better understand challenges maritime and naval forces face along African shores and out to sea,” said US Navy Adm. Stuart Munsch, commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. Sixth Fleet. “I look forward to working with our Ghana Navy hosts and all participants this week to support African-led solutions to pressing issues that connect our maritime and naval forces." Over the course of the next three days, African and international leaders will join a series of panels and focused discussions on maritime security challenges and opportunities. Specific panels include Strategies for Cooperation and Models for Combined Operations, The Spectrum of Maritime Action: At Sea and In the Littorals, Assessing Maritime Security Interventions, and Countering and Prosecuting Illicit Maritime Activity (From Piracy to IUUF). “AMFS/NILS-A demonstrates how much solidarity the international community has in ensuring security and stability in our region. We are honored to host this critical initiative in 2024 as we take a leading role in ensuring freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce throughout the Gulf of Guinea and West Africa,” said Rear Adm. Issah Adam Yakubu, Chief of the Naval Staff of the Ghana Navy. “We look forward to spirited and meaningful conversations with so many of our friends and partners from throughout Africa and across the world.” "This historic conference will bring together the leaders of Allied and partner nation Maritime Forces and militaries from over 40 countries to discuss facets of interoperability, crisis response, and naval capabilities," said United States Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Robert B. Sofge Jr., commander of U.S. Marine Forces Europe and Africa. "What a great opportunity we have here to strengthen the bonds between us in pursuit of our common objectives." For more, check out https://lnkd.in/eQKWEbaZ!

#AMFS / #NILSA 24 is only 3 days away! Military chiefs and governmental leaders from more than 40 nations around the world are scheduled to attended the combined event in Accra, Ghana, demonstrating our collective commitment to #MaritimeSecurity! For more information, check out https://lnkd.in/dSbsVq4k!

#PartnershipsMatter! Over the course of 7 days from March 14-21, 2024, U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) personnel worked alongside their counterparts in the Seychelles Coast Guard during multiple bilateral maritime security engagements in Seychelles’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). These events included identifying vessels suspected in engaging in illicit activity or illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in Seychelles’ EEZ, which extends into significant portions of East Africa and the Western Indian Ocean. After identification, the U.S. and Seychelles teamed up to intercept vessels of interest to conduct compliant boardings of Seychelles-flagged vessels, ensuring adherence to Seychelles Maritime law. “Our cooperation on maritime security is a visible sign of our mutual goal of a more secure and prosperous Indian Ocean Region,” said U.S. Embassy Seychelles Chargé d’Affaires, Adham Loutfi. “It gives me enormous satisfaction to know that Seychelles and the United States continue to work side by side—demonstrating great dedication, courage, and sacrifice—to ensure the safety and security of our maritime spaces.” These bilateral engagements come immediately after the East African maritime exercise Cutlass Express 2024, which was hosted by Djibouti, Kenya and the Seychelles. Cutlass Express focused on a variety of maritime security and stability issues, providing invaluable training and realistic scenarios for partners and Allies that they can then apply in real world operations, as is the case here. “The 2024 enactment of the U.S.-Seychelles Bilateral agreement is the second major operation performed with our key Indian Ocean partner, Seychelles Coast Guard, since the agreement was signed in 2021,” said Cmdr. Beau Powers, Chief of law enforcement operations at Coast Guard Atlantic Area. “Seychelles is a distinctly maritime nation, committed to meeting obligations to counter Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing as well as deterring illicit maritime activity. The U.S. Coast Guard is committed to performing combined operations with our highly capable counterparts in the Seychelles Coast Guard to stem such global problems. Training on law enforcement tactics, practicing information exchange, and then working together in operational law enforcement patrols, bolsters maritime security in a perfect demonstration of the U.S. and Seychelles’ commitment to keeping the international rules-based order in this region.” For more: https://lnkd.in/dP4eNXMD U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) United States Department of Defense U.S. Department of State

#DYK that Women, Peace and Security (WPS) was a feature of the recently completed exercise #CutlassExpress24? In Djibouti, Kenya, and the Seychelles, US Navy & NAVAF WPS facilitators Carrie Compton and Lt. Cmdr. Kristell Faustino, along with Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CTJF-HOA) WPS facilitator Sgt. 1st Class James Huggins, led a series of familiarization briefs and discussions with partner nation participants about the role of women in national and international peace processes and security efforts. “I think WPS is really important, it's made me understand the importance of having women in those positions…and the actual outcomes that women can influence or change – making peace for example,” said Seychellois WPS participant Emmanuelle Hoareau, a legal advisor who provides assistance to the Regional Coordination Operations Center located in the Seychelles. “It's important for me to realize that and do something and make a difference in that regard.” After these classroom trainings and group discussions, Compton, Faustino and Huggins led a robust program of injects and scenario-based assessments and evaluations throughout Cutlass Express 2024, testing participants’ knowledge of the WPS program and their application of WPS principles into exercise evolutions. “We incorporated WPS-themed injects into one scenario each day in each primary exercise location for us to assess, so this exercise has been the most successful for NAVAF WPS, with significant involvement of WPS equities throughout the entire process," said Compton. “This concept is still establishing a baseline, but Cutlass Express 2024 will allow us to create a better baseline of information to start building more value in subsequent iterations.” These scenarios involved countering human trafficking and weapons smuggling. Partner nation personnel took charge of individual events, bolstering their ability to lead a team in WPS fundamentals while also enhancing their own understanding of things like visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS), search techniques and hostage identification and rescue. “This training has been very beneficial and we have learned a lot about WPS, maritime security, and the importance of women in important defense and military positions,” said Nasteho Mouhoumed, a WPS participant from the Djiboutian Coast Guard. “Practicing together during Cutlass Express ensures we have a standardized understanding of the program and how we can use this program in our own countries.” For more: https://lnkd.in/dm9mZN29 U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) | United States Department of Defense | U.S. Department of State

Exercise #CutlassExpress24 is complete! For 2 weeks, more than a dozen nations came together to train and hone their skills throughout the maritime domain in East Africa's premier maritime exercise. The exercise kicked off following opening ceremonies in Djibouti and the Seychelles, Feb. 25 and 26, respectively. It involved hundreds of Sailors, Coast Guardsmen, civilian and contractor personnel across Africa’s East Coast, from Djibouti to Tanzania to Mozambique, and into the Western Indian Ocean, with Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius and the Seychelles all hosting individual scenarios, alongside multiple East African coastal nations. Partner nations from outside East Africa, including Georgia, India, Senegal, Tunisia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, also took part. “Cutlass Express continues to provide a platform for Kenya Coast Guard Service personnel to exploit learning opportunities fostering continuous improvement in maritime law enforcement,” said Director General of the Kenya Coast Guard Service, Mr. Bruno I. Shioso, EBS, OGW. “CE 24 played a key role in enhancing our overall operational posture and readiness aimed at enhancing maritime security in the WIO region whilst strengthening partnerships and collaborations among participating nations. Leveraging on these partnerships for a broader Maritime Collective Approach underpins development within the region.” The final training exercise (FTX) portion of the overall exercise provided the perfect venue for partners to relay their training into realistic exercise scenarios, identifying suspect vessels and personnel, sharing information about targets, capabilities, and available assets, and dispatching multinational teams to address shared threats. Whether vessels suspected of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUUF), personnel believed to be smuggling illicit material or involved in human trafficking, or other threats to regional maritime security, each exercise scenario inject presented a unique challenge and opportunity to combine efforts and neutralize threats. “One of the incredible benefits of the Express series of exercises is what we learn from our partners, those who operate here year-round and have intimate knowledge of regional challenges and opportunities for collaboration,” said US Navy Capt. Geoffrey Townsend, Commodore of Commander, Task Force (CTF) 68 and overall Officer in Tactical Control of the exercise. “We continue to push the envelope of our collective capabilities across the full spectrum of maritime operations and I’m very excited about the continued evolution of this exercise.” For more: https://lnkd.in/dY5uKT58 U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) | U.S. Department of State | United States Department of Defense