23 May 24. U.S. Conducts Large-Scale Logistics Exercise With Saudi, Emirati Partners. U.S. and partner forces from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are set to conclude this year’s large-scale exercise showcasing the three countries’ combined logistics capabilities.
The U.S. Marine Corps-led Native Fury 24 — an exercise that’s in its ninth iteration this year — put combined, joint interoperability to the test through a series of complex logistics maneuvers, dynamic combat training evolutions, and convoys spanning more than 1,000 miles across two countries.
More than 600 Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen and took part in Native Fury 24 alongside their partner nation counterparts.
This year marked the first time the exercise has featured bilateral operations with both the Royal Saudi Armed Forces and United Arab Emirates Armed Forces.
The exercise began earlier this month when equipment was offloaded at Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu Port on the Red Sea. The equipment was then transported to a logistics staging area where it was prepared for the long-range convoy along the Trans-Arabian Network, a collection of seaports, airports and road networks connecting countries throughout the Arabian Peninsula. Along the way, the U.S. conducted bi-lateral, live-fire and airport-repair training alongside the Royal Saudi Armed Forces at the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, before conducting a border crossing into the UAE.
Once in the UAE, the U.S. and UAE forces conducted convoy training, as well as refueling operations on Emirati helicopters.
Throughout the journey, U.S. Army forces leapfrogged the Marine Corps-led convoy to set up facilities for overnight stops.
The convoy ended at the UAE Port of Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman where the equipment was loaded onto a vessel for transport back the U.S.
Marine Corps Col. Matthew Hakola, director of logistics for Marine Corps Forces Central Command and the exercise control group director for Native Fury 24, said the exercise serves as key demonstration of the United States’ ability to carry out complex, combined, joint exercises with partner nations.
“I think we are the best in the world at this type of thing — being able to cross the Atlantic with equipment and unload it in a relatively rapid manner and, more importantly, being able to support it once it’s on the ground,” Hakola said.
Those complex logistics, he said, are vital to the United States’ ability to operate anywhere around the globe.
Throughout the exercise, the U.S. built upon important partnerships with the Saudi and Emirati forces, said Hakola, who served as the exercise control group director for the previous iteration of Native Fury.
He said this year it was evident that the three countries had made long strides in working together.
“I definitely saw marked improvement from the last Native Fury to this Native Fury on them thinking through the same problem sets that we think through,” Hakola said. “The coordination the inter-ministry coordination they provided was almost seamless.”
Exercising that coordination is key to operating together effectively in the event of a real-world scenario.
The exercise also provides an opportunity for U.S. service members to build the bonds with their foreign counterparts that are important to operating effectively together.
“That’s probably the most professionally rewarding part of it,” he said. “We’re all humans, and it’s just rewarding in that sense, and they’ve been great hosts,” Hakola said.
“It’s been a very successful exercise.” (Source: U.S. DoD)
21 May 24. Russia starts exercise to simulate launch of tactical nuclear weapons.
- Summary
- Drills ordered by Putin begin in southern Russia
- Simulation will be closely watched in the West
- Putin seen warning against deeper Western role in Ukraine
May 21 (Reuters) – Russian forces have started the first stage of exercises ordered by President Vladimir Putin to simulate preparation for the launch of tactical nuclear weapons, the Defence Ministry said on Tuesday.
Moscow has linked the exercises to what it calls “militant statements” by Western officials, including French President Emmanuel Macron, which it said created security threats for Russia.
Nuclear analysts say the exercises are designed as a warning signal by Putin to deter the West from wading more deeply into the war in Ukraine. Western countries have provided weapons and intelligence to Kyiv but have refrained from sending troops.
The Defence Ministry said the first stage of the exercise involved Iskander and Kinzhal missiles.
It is aimed at ensuring that units and equipment are ready for “the combat use of non-strategic nuclear weapons to respond and unconditionally ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Russian state in response to provocative statements and threats of individual Western officials against the Russian Federation”, the ministry said.
The drills involve missile forces in Russia’s Southern Military District, which lies adjacent to Ukraine and also includes parts of Ukraine that Russia now controls.
Belarus, where Russia said last year it was deploying tactical nuclear weapons, will also be involved, the two countries have said.
Tactical, or non-strategic, nuclear weapons are less powerful than the strategic arms designed to wipe out whole enemy cities, but they nevertheless have vast destructive potential.
Some Western analysts believe non-strategic nuclear weapons have acquired greater importance in Moscow’s thinking since the start of the war in Ukraine, where its conventional forces struggled in the first two years.
In theory the use of such a weapon could deliver a stunning shock to the West without necessarily triggering a full-blown nuclear war, though the risk of triggering a cycle of escalation would be huge.
‘SPECIAL AMMUNITION’
Russia has about 1,558 non-strategic nuclear warheads, according to the Federation of American Scientists, although there is uncertainty about exact figures. They are controlled by the Russian Defence Ministry’s 12th Main Directorate, known as 12th GUMO.
The ministry said troops were practising obtaining “special ammunition” – meaning nuclear warheads – for Iskander missiles, equipping launch vehicles with them and “covertly advancing to the designated position in preparation for missile launches”.
It said aviation units were also practising the fitting of special warheads to Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, and flying into designated patrol areas.
Video released by the ministry showed missiles being transported in a convoy of military vehicles and placed in position ready for firing.
“The exercises are, obviously, a signal in response to discussion of NATO countries’ troops in Ukraine. The most important features are advance announcement and visibility,” Nikolai Sokov, a former Soviet and Russian arms control official, told Reuters.
Western militaries will be watching the exercises closely and seeking to draw conclusions about how much warning time they would have if Russia deployed such weapons for real, he said.
“The involvement of 12th GUMO can produce insights into how much time the release of warheads takes, how well detectable, how much warning,” said Sokov, a senior fellow at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation.
The involvement of Kinzhal, he said, was “a new element I did not expect to see”, although there was no doubt about its capability to carry both nuclear and conventional warheads.
When Putin ordered the drills this month, Russia’s Foreign Ministry linked them to comments by France’s Macron, who floated the possibility of sending European troops to fight Moscow in Ukraine, and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, who said Kyiv had the right to use weapons provided by London to strike targets inside Russia. It also cited the provision of long-range British, French and U.S. ATACMS missiles to Kyiv.
The Foreign Ministry said on May 6 the exercises should send a “sobering signal” to the West and its “puppets” in Ukraine.
“We hope these drills will cool the hot heads in Western capitals,” it said, adding the West should realise “the potential catastrophic consequences of the strategic risks they are generating” and stop short of direct military confrontation with Russia. (Source: Reuters)
16 May 24. Finland to double international exercises in 2025. Finland will participate in 115 international events and exercises in 2025, at a cost of €10.75m, following the country’s entry to Nato.
Finland’s defence planning for 2025 will include participation 115 international training events and exercises following decisions laid out by Finnish Minister of Defence Antti Häkkänen on 15 May 2024, with the expected cost of participation estimated at €10.75m ($11.7m).
This is the first time since joining Nato that Finland has laid out its international training and exercise plan, which has been impacted by significant changes in the security environment, as well as a deepening defence cooperation with Norway, Sweden, the UK and the US, according to a release from the Finnish Ministry of Defence.
“Our Nato Allies train in Finland with the Defence Forces more often and on a longer-term basis,” said Minister Häkkänen, reflecting on the effect of Nato membership on Finish Defence Forces’ plans.
The Finish Defence Forces website states that the Defence Forces participate in 60-70 international exercises and training events a year, close to half the number of events Häkkänen has planned for 2025.
Personnel participating in international exercise are preparing for military crisis operations, with all Finnish services making an active role in the training events. Military crisis management is one of the Finish Defence forces’s statutory tasks, either for humanitarian goals or to protect a civilian population through operations intended to secure or restore international peace and security. Finland has participated in over 30 such operations since 1956.
Within Europe Finland has participated in the Nato Kosovo Force (KFOR) mission and the European Union Naval Force Mediterranean (EUNAVFOR MED).
(Source: naval-technology.com)