Spanish Navy offshore patrol vessel OPV Atalaya currently deployed to Western Africa, has conducted a series of cooperation exercises with the National Navy of Cameroon between March 28 and April 8.
The training activities were divided into two phases: the first one was organized in port in areas related to damage control, medical issues, maritime action and diving. The second phase was conducted at sea putting into practice the lessons learnt the previous days.
During the training period at sea, two patrol boats from the National Navy collaborated in maritime surveillance tasks in coordination with the Maritime Operations Centre in Douala to enhance the maritime situational awareness of the Cameroonian Navy in its own maritime domain and territorial waters. Three officers embarked on board the Spanish OPV to get acquainted with standard procedures of maritime surveillance techniques.
Exercises with the Portuguese Navy in the Gulf of Guinea
During the deployment in the Gulf of Guinea, the Atalaya also took the opportunity to train with the Portuguese Navy frigate Vasco da Gama conducting joint VBSS (visit, board, search & seizure) and communication drills and exchanging crew members during the exercises.
Defense Diplomacy Plan
The Serviola-class patrol boat Atalaya set sail for West Africa in February 2016 to support the Spanish Defense Diplomacy Plan intended to cooperate with regional west-African nations to help them enhance their operational capabilities.
Exercises with Cameroon are part of the second stage of the deployment which includes military support to Cameroon and Ghana in aspects related to counter-terrorism, illegal trafficking, counter-piracy, etc.
The third and final stage will be conducted in Cape Verde, Senegal and Mauritania participating in several cooperation activities with their navies including joint surveillance of sovereign maritime areas.