Military troops from at least 7 countries will be involved in the NATO maritime exercises Sea Shield 2018 in the Black Sea, whose goal will be to practice defence against threats coming by air, land and sea, the Romanian Navy informs.
“Sea Shield exercises 18 are NATO’s largest exercises on the southern and eastern flanks of the North Atlantic alliance in 2018. They demonstrate the ability of Romanian sailors to plan, organize and hold training events in 3 areas of activity: land, air and water,” the Navy said, quoted by maririmeherald.com.
A total of 21 ships, 10 planes and a submarine, as well as 2,300 soldiers from Romania, the United States, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Ukraine, Greece and Spain will participate in the military exercises, the statement said.
The exercises, which should last 8 days, began last Friday in the port of Constanta.
The Romanian Naval Forces participates with two frigates, two corvettes, two rocket launchers, two sea buoys, two mobile rocket launchers, auxiliary ships and combat divers, the Romanian Air Force assists the air threats with three MiG 21 Lancer aircraft and, for the first time, the Romanian Ground Forces participates with a detachment of infantry from the 9th Mechanized Brigade “Mărăşeşti”, hotnews.ro reports.
Turkey participates with a submarine, a frigate, a patrol vessel, a research plane MPA P 235, Bulgaria with BGS Bodri corvette, USA with a patrol aircraft MPA P 8 Orion, Britain participates with three Typhoon aircraft, and Greece with chief of staff officers.
The NATO Maritime Allied Command (MARCOM) is represented by the Standing NATO Maritime Group, which operates in the Black Sea during May 1-21 and is made up by the British destroyer HMS Duncan, the Bulgarian frigate BGS Drazki, the Spanish frigate SPS Victoria and the Romanian frigate “King Ferdinand”.
The Sea Shield 18 multinational exercise is the largest NATO exercise in the southern and eastern flank of the North Atlantic Alliance in 2018, and is meant to prove the special ability of Romanian military sailors to plan, organize and conduct training activities in the three action environments, land, air and sea, the Romanian Navy announced.
photo: NATO file photo