The exercise brought together 32 surface ships, 2 submarines and 18 air assets, including Maritime Patrol Aircrafts and helicopters. Maneuvers ranged from mine countermeasures, anti-submarine, surface and anti-air warfare, and air operations to amphibious and force protection operations.
Assets and personnel come from Albania, Bulgaria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States.
Dynamic Mariner/Flotex-19 tested NATO’s Response Force Maritime Component (NRF/M) and interoperability with NATO forces, enhancing flexibility and interoperability amongst Allied nations.
“I would like to congratulate SPMARFOR, the NATO Response Force that will be led by Spain in 2020, for doing a tremendous job hosting and leading Dynamic Mariner. This was a complex and layered exercise that provided tremendous training value to participants at all levels, from the Task Force and Task Group levels to individual ships and division members,” said Commodore Josée Kurtz, Commander of Standing NATO Maritime Group Two.
Vice Admiral Antonio Martorell Lacave, Commander of Spanish Maritime Forces echoed this sentiment: “For my staff, this was the first of two certification periods at sea, providing us a valuable chance to hone our skills in preparation for assumption of NRF 2020. Looking at the big picture, this was a great chance for multiple NATO nations to come together and excel during a large, multinational joint exercise, and in doing so, to reinforce the strength and stability of our shared Alliance.”
HMCS HALIFAX approaches FS VAR for a replenishment at sea in the Atlantic Ocean, on October 8, 2019. Photo Credits to: Cpl Braden Trudeau, RP24-2019-0051-001
NATO’s maritime strength lies in the ability of the Standing Forces and National Response Force elements to rapidly join with high readiness, high capability national forces and task groups to deliver strategic effect. Regular training between these groups is a force multiplier and provides a collectively trained and interoperable capability that NATO can confidently deploy if necessary.
The NATO Response Force (NRF) is a highly ready and technologically advanced, multinational force made up of land, air, maritime and Special Operations Forces (SOF) components that the Alliance can deploy quickly, wherever needed.