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NATO Submarine Warfare Exercise Begins in Iceland


REYKJAVIK, Iceland - NATO Submarine Surveillance Exercise Dynamic Mongoose 2017 begins today off the coast of Iceland, with ships, submarines, aircraft and personnel from 10 Allied nations gathered in the North Atlantic Ocean for anti-submarine and anti-surface training.

Submarines from France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and the United States, under operational control of NATO Submarine Command (COMSUBNATO), will join 11 surface ships from Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America and a NATO Research Vessel, NRV Alliance, under the command of Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1) Commodore Ole Morten Sandquist. Host nation Iceland is providing support from both the Reykjavik Harbor and the Keflavik Air Base.

"I look forward to take part in exercise Dynamic Mongoose, to enhance  our ability to conduct advanced surface and subsurface ASW in a  realistic and challenging environment, off Iceland," said Commander  SNMG1, Commodore Ole Morten Sandquist. "The exercise is a great opportunity to train, experiment, and share best practice and lessons learned among all participating units."

To support the simulated multi-threat environment, 8 Maritime Aircraft from Canada, France, Germany, Iceland and the United States will operate from Keflavik Air Base under operational command of NATO Maritime Air Command (COMMARAIR), temporarily located at the base for the exercise.

The aim of this exercise is to provide all participants with complex and challenging training to enhance their interoperability and proficiency in anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare skills.

"The presence of NATO in the waters south of Iceland is a a sign of an increased focus on the North Atlantic and will strengthen the Alliance’s knowledge and experience of the area," said Arnor Sigurjonsson Director, Department of Security and Defence, Iceland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

This year, NATO Research Vessel ALLIANCE, operated by the Italian Navy for the NATO Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE) based in La Spezia (Italy), will participate to the exercise.

"CMRE is looking forward to demonstrating autonomous security networks for ASW during DMON17.” Said Kevin LePage, CMRE Scientist-in-Charge. "The inclusion of CMRE in this exercise reflects NATO’s recognition of the importance of these future capabilities, and the commitment to working with researchers to improve the way NATO’s navies operate at sea.”

CMRE’s contribution to DMON17 is to deploy and test Maritime Unmanned Systems for ASW, specifically autonomous underwater vehicles (OEX Explorer AUVs) and unmanned surface vehicles (Wave-Glider USV). CMRE will also be participating to some ASW serials for the first time integrated under the command of the Officer Conducting the Serial (OCS). This is an important Operational Experimentation for CMRE and offers the chance to expose the current generation of ASWs to the future of unmanned systems for ASW.  It also will help Allied Command Transformation, which funds CMRE’s activities in this area, to capture requirements for future Autonomous Security Networks for ASW.

Each surface ship under the tactical command of SNMG1 will have the opportunity to conduct a variety of submarine operations, closely coordinating their efforts with the air and surface participants.

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