NATO’s submarine warfare Exercise DYNAMIC MONGOOSE 2014 (DMON 14) concluded yesterday off the coast of Norway, as the ships, submarines, aircraft, and personnel from eight participating Allied nations wrapped up the simulations and began to take stock of the lessons the exercise provided for future operations.
Rough weather provided a challenging environment for the participants, who were given the opportunity to train for a variety of high end maritime war-fighting skills. During the exercise, the participating surface ships also had the opportunity to conduct the difficult manoeuvres involved in replenishment-at-sea (RAS) training.
Submarines from Portugal, Norway and France, under operational control of Commander Submarines NATO (COMSUBNATO), and surface ships from Norway, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Poland under the command of Standing NATO Maritime Group ONE (SNMG-1) Commodore Nils Andreas Stensønes simulated combat against one another in a stressful multi-threat environment.
The increasingly challenging exercise scenario incorporated several warfighting areas, including submarine detection, tracking and engagements of surface units and other submarines, aircraft detection, tracking and attacking of submarines, as well as naval task groups escorting high value units and protecting them from the submarine threat. The exercise challenged participants’ ability to seamlessly integrate multinational forces, including submarines, ships and aircraft into a coherent fighting force.
“During this exercise, SNMG-1 has grown from two to a task group of ten vessels. This demonstrates how the group can seamlessly integrate vessels from Allied nations and expand in accordance with the demands of the current situation,” said Commodore Stensønes. “The contributions from all the nations have been outstanding. I believe we have made a significant step forward in anti-submarine warfare capability, as single units, as an integrated task group with ships and aircraft and as a task force.”
Maritime Patrol Aircraft and helicopters operating from Sola Air Base under operational command of NATO Maritime Air Command (COMMARAIR) added to the complexity and realism of the training by incorporating the air element of anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare.
“We appreciate the excellent host nation support Norway provided for ships, submarines, and aircraft from Haakonsvern Navy Base in Bergen and Air Station Sola in Stavanger. This is an ideal venue for such exercises, and our Norwegian Allies are superb hosts,” said Rear Admiral Bob Kamensky, COMSUBNATO. “Moreover, the contribution of all participating units and personnel from Norway, Portugal, Poland, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States provided a great opportunity for all units to test and hone their skills, equipment and tactical procedures in such a complex war environment.”
[mappress] Press Release, February 25, 2014, Image: NATO