Sea Shield maritime live exercise started in the Port of Constanta

The opening ceremony of the multinational exercise Sea Shield, in which over 2,300 Romanian soldiers and from 11 other partner states are set to participate, took place on Monday in the Port of Constanta, the Naval Forces General Staff (SMFN) informs.The military exercise, which is the most complex training event organized by the Romanian Naval Forces, takes place until April 11."Over 2,300 soldiers from our country and from 11 other partner states (Albania, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Greece, Italy, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Spain, the United States of America and Turkey) will take part in Sea Shield 25," according to a press release of the SMFN.The Romanian Naval Forces will participate in the exercise with over 1,600 soldiers and 80 pieces of equipment, including 28 sea and river vessels, two helicopters and a mobile launch detachment.The other categories of forces in the Romanian Army will take part in the joint training sequences with 200 soldiers and over 40 pieces of equipment - one ship, nine aircraft and over 30 vehicles, and the foreign partners will participate with approximately 500 soldiers and 27 pieces of equipment - four ships, three maritime patrol aircraft and 20 vehicles. In total, during the exercise, the soldiers from the 12 participating states will operate approximately 150 pieces of equipment - 33 ships and nine fast boats, 14 aircraft and 90 vehicles.Sea Shield is planned annually by the Naval Component Command "Vice Admiral Ioan Georgescu" and has as its main purpose to increase the level of interoperability between the naval forces of allied and partner states, as well as to optimize the effort of institutions in the defence, law enforcement and national security system."During the two weeks of training, the first organized at the national, inter-institutional level, and the second at the international level, combat sequences will be carried out in all action environments, maritime, fluvial, lagoon, underwater, terrestrial and aerial. In this regard, the coordination and response capacities of the participating forces will be tested and improved in situations of highly complex scenarios, such as simultaneous maritime and aerial attacks, hybrid threats and asymmetric provocations," the press release also states.A key aspect of the multinational exercise Sea Shield 25 is to strengthen collaboration between naval, air and land forces, which will be tested through a series of activities to defend critical coastal infrastructure, protect maritime lines of communication and support amphibious operations. The exercises, conducted in maritime areas in the Black Sea, on the Danube River and in the coastal area, will increase collective response capacity and contribute to promoting NATO's commitment to regional security.At the same time, through the conduct of Sea Shield 25, the participating forces will improve their combat techniques and strengthen their strategic partnerships to maintain a safe and stable environment in the area of responsibility on the south-eastern flank of the North Atlantic Alliance.   (Photo:https://armed.mapn.ro/)