Planned back in 2020, Neptune Strike kicked off this week. The NATO military training exercise involves testing the command and control elements of a carrier strike group.
The exercise began with a tabletop war game scenarios a year prior in Naples, Italy in which Naval officers confronted challenges that might arise in the Black Sea. War games and exercises like these have been taking place for decades, normally with little fanfare, but have taken up a renewed relevancy as tensions flair in Ukraine.
Taking place concurrently is a separate multinational training exercise in Germany called Allied Spirit that involves 15 nations and about 15,000 troops including over 1,000 American soldiers.
Meanwhile, Neptune Strike will complete that handover of operational control from the U.S. Navy's 6th fleet to Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO which is based out of Portugal.
"The capability of SIXTHFLT and STRIKFORNATO combined staffs to enable a handover of the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group demonstrates the power and cohesiveness of our maritime forces and the NATO Alliance," Vice Adm. Gene Black said in a press release. "NATO’s command and control of a CSG is the result of decades of Alliance maritime interoperability."
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As of late January, the Russian military has massed over 100,000 soldiers in western Russia, poised in a manner that would facilitate a possible invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. State Department has ordered a partial drawdown of the U.S. embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, sending family members back home amid fears of an imminent invasion.
Reach Jack Murphy: jack@connectingvets.com or @JackMurphyRGR.
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