Mare Aperto 2019 exercise: Italian Navy trains together with NATO partners

Exercise Mare Aperto 2019.

The Italian Navy-led Mare Aperto 2019 maritime exercise is currently underway in the Central Mediterranean Sea and will run until May 10. The exercise focuses on training and testing the capabilities of the Commanders and Personnel of the Naval Squadron, in conducting operations in areas of international crisis. Through the simulation of a multidimensional threat scenario with increasing difficulty, ships and crews engage in the main combat activities in the sea and from the sea such as anti-aircraft, anti-submarine and anti-ship activities, illicit traffic fighting, crisis management in conventional and asymmetrical threat environments, as well as the management of emergencies on board and the dispatch of an amphibious force from sea to land in a cyber environment. 

The Mare Aperto 2019 involves assets from eight NATO countries - Italy, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United States -. The maritime component includes over 40 ships, 5 submarines and 30 embarked assets. The air component includes aircraft of the Italian and US Navy. In addition, the Italian Air Force participates with Eurofighter, AMX and Tornado fighter planes to ensure reconnaissance, escort and suppression of enemy air defenses; a CAEW (Conformal Airborne Early Warning) aircraft for aerial surveillance; an MP-72A maritime patrol aircraft and a KC-767A tanker. The Mare Aperto 2019 also involves the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier which guarantees Red Air activities thanks to the Super Hornets assigned to Carrier Wing 7.

The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group entered the European theater in early April to conduct joint operations with local allies and operate along with a second aircraft carrier, the USS John C. Stennis, to show the muscles to Russia.

US Navy Super Hornets from Carrier Air Wing 7 (Photo by Capt. Nathan Ballou).

The Italian naval units host observers from the Navies of 10 partner countries. The Mare Aperto 2019 also has an amphibious connotation, with the presence of a landing force composed of 400 Italian Navy riflemen, a military unit of the Italian Army lagoon regiment and 180 Spanish Navy riflemen.

Written by Matteo Sanzani