NATO naval forces Prepare for Trident Juncture

NATO mariners met this week in Trondheim, Norway aboard Dutch amphibious ship HNLMS Johan de Witt for a pre-sail conference to confirm coordination final details for the maritime portion of Exercise Trident Juncture before the exercise begins.

According to a NATO release, ships and submarines from Allied nations and NATO Partner Sweden are moored in Trondheim for what is often referred to as a “pre-sail” conference.

This is the second of two pre-sail conferences held for Exercise Trident Juncture. The first was held in Iceland on October 15th for approximately half of the ships participating in the exercise.

“Our goal for this live exercise is to take full advantage of this exercise to get the best training possible in company with a lot of capable assets,” said Allied Maritime Command Deputy Commander, Vice Admiral Hervé Bléjean speaking at the conference.

“The training keeps us ready to be able to defend the Alliance.”

NATO said in a statement:

“The maritime forces here in Trondheim as well as those in Bergen and Kristansund will now set sail in the fjords and open water of the North Atlantic where they will join with maritime forces coming from Iceland for training and drills to maintain the readiness of these highly capable maritime assets. Training will focus on warfare areas of air defense, anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface ship warfare and amphibious assault.

Working in Task Groups, the ships will combine their efforts to gain synergies and maximize their ability to practice and demonstrate NATO’s strength, unity and capability to contribute to deterrence and reduce risk to Alliance security and stability at sea.”

The exercise as a whole will include more than 50,000 participants, 65 vessels, 250 aircraft and more than 10,000 vehicles and offers the opportunity for military personnel from 31 Allied and Partner nations to train realistically in a joint environment in challenging weather across the air, sea and land domains.