SOUTH AFRICA: NATO ships take part in exercises with the South African Navy off the coast of Cape Town

Record ID: 455257

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: NATO ships take part in exercises with the South African Navy off the coast of Cape Town
  • Date: 8th September 2007
  • Summary: SOUTH AFRICAN SHIP SAS AMATOLA AT SEA AT SUNSET
  • Embargoed: 23rd September 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: International Relations,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVA1VO3TPHYV37FWW6T9WKEWB3VC
  • Story Text: Naval fleets from Denmark, Portugal, the US, Canada, the Netherlands and Germany take part in a South African Navy exercise off the coast of Cape Town as part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's (NATO) first-ever tour of the Southern hemisphere.
    Naval fleets from Denmark, Portugal, the US, Canada, the Netherlands and Germany took part in a South African Navy exercise off the coast of Cape Town as part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's (NATO) first-ever tour of the Southern hemisphere.
    The Nato fleet joined in on Exercise Amazolo, which included the use of advanced sonar technology in the locating of a submarine as well as the search and seizure of a ship suspected of criminal activities.
    South Africa's naval force led the charge in the opening of a multinational exercise off the south-western coast of Africa.
    The combined exercise between the South African Navy and Nato's Standing Maritime Group 1 (NSMG1) began with formation manoeuvres off the Western Cape on Monday (September 3). NSMG1 is one of Nato's four immediate reaction maritime forces. The group is a key element in the organisation's response force and has seven missions, including counter-terrorism, crisis response, non-combat evacuation, embargo and humanitarian relief.
    The manoeuvres, performed 15 nautical miles out to sea, are part of the NSMG1's two-month exercise in which six Nato warships are to circumnavigate Africa. Leading the six-nation fleet were South Africa's newly acquired Heroine submarine, the SAS Mathatisis, and Miko class frigates, the SAS Amatola and SAS Isandlawana.
    The exercise with the South African Navy is to involve warfare tasks that will see some of the world's best naval forces pitted against them in sea battles using submarines, warships, helicopters and fighter jets.
    The exercises, said NSMG1 commander, Rear Admiral Michael Mahon, were aimed at developing integration and co-operative skills between South Africa and Nato. Mahon said one of the aims of the group's circumnavigation of Africa was to gain an awareness of the threats to maritime security in the southern Atlantic and Indian Ocean.
    "We're here to build NATO's understanding of this region and as a collective understanding of this region. As US Naval officers, we've been deployed to the shores of the African continent for years but NATO as an organisation has not done this before and we're here to build our collective understanding of the operating environment and sharing that with the rest of our NATO allies," said Mahon.
    The final phase of the deployment will include exercises in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia, an area in which the safe passage of vessels carrying aid and humanitarian assistance to that country has increasingly been disturbed by acts of piracy. During this phase the group will visit the Republic of the Seychelles in mid September and the deployment will end when they pass the Suez Canal.
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