Boarding teams from five Gulf of Guinea countries are using the German navy frigate FGS Brandenburg (F215) to enhance their abilities to complete visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) operations during Exercise Obangame Express 2015, from March 19 to 27, 2015.
After boarding the ship, the boarding teams are confronted with situations that require them to detain and question suspects, clear rooms and respond to medical emergencies in order to effectively demonstrate their capabilities to perform in potentially hostile shipboard environments.
Lt. j.g. Yaw Achiaw Owusu-Danso, boarding team leader, Ghana navy, said:
Boarding operations are very important in the Gulf of Guinea because recently we have had to deal with a number of security challenges. Boarding operations help us deal with or control some of these problems.
The countries participating in boarding exercises aboard the Brandenburg are the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Togo and Benin.
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Image: US Navy