NATO's largest planned exercise for 2025 involves around 4,000 military personnel, 30 ships, two submarines, amphibious units, and aircraft from nine countries.
MADRID, March 24 (Xinhua) -- NATO on Monday started a large-scale multinational training exercise off the southwest coast of Spain, called the Dynamic Mariner/Flotex 25 exercise.
NATO's largest planned exercise for 2025 involves around 4,000 military personnel, 30 ships, two submarines, amphibious units, and aircraft from nine countries: France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Croatia, the United States, Greece, and Türkiye.
Taking place in the western Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, including Spanish territorial waters, the drill will continue until April 4th. It is designed to test the participants' capabilities in naval power projection, command and control, amphibious operations, anti-submarine warfare, and cyber defense, among others, while integrating cutting-edge technologies such as unmanned aircraft, according to Spain's defense ministry.
This exercise marks the first international deployment of the S-81 Isaac Peral, the Spanish Navy's most advanced submarine. Spain's defense ministry described the drill as "a milestone in the evolution of the modernization of the Submarine Force."
According to NATO's Allied Maritime Command (AMC), the drill will also test the alliance's ability to secure vital sea lanes in an evolving security environment, with an emphasis on enhancing real-time collaboration and coordination.
A key objective of the exercise is to train the Spanish Navy for its upcoming role as it prepares to assume the NATO Allied Reaction Force Maritime element (ARF/M) in July.
The ARF is a rapid reaction force specifically designed to deploy swiftly and deliver effects at short notice in response to a range of security challenges, including conventional, hybrid, and cyber threats, AMC noted.
"The objective is to put into practice the Navy's ability to exercise Command and Control of a Naval Force far from our coasts in a medium/high-intensity scenario to project naval power and exercise control of the sea," the Spanish defense ministry said in a press communique. ■