Service members from the Royal Navy, alongside Lithuanian and U.S. allies, participated in a personnel recovery exercise on June 10, 2024, in the Baltic Sea.
The exercise involved a two-part training plan, with British forces working closely with Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 28 and Lithuanian counterparts.
The scenario simulated the recovery of isolated personnel, specifically the ejection of two Swedish pilots into the Baltic Sea. Royal Navy small craft played a crucial role, placing two individuals in the water—a dummy and a live person, a SERE Specialist—to simulate the lost pilots.
The Lithuanian Navy Ship LNS Skalvis (P14) successfully recovered the dummy, while an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter from HSC-28 deployed a rescue swimmer to recover the live survivor.
The survivor was then dropped off onto the Royal Navy vessel HMS Example, completing the exercise.
Lt. Alec Ferley, a pilot from HSC-28 who participated in the exercise, commented on the collaboration, saying, “The exercise went very well overall. We were able to flex our communication lines between NATO partners to meet the challenges of a joint personnel recovery in a semi-contested environment. On a unit level, it allowed HSC-28 an opportunity to hoist personnel to small unfamiliar vessels in rough seas. This provided an invaluable training opportunity in a highly dynamic environment.”
Lt. Ferley spoke on the importance of these exercises, stating, “We are looking forward to building on this exercise to form more cohesive partnerships, and integrated lines of communications with NATO partners to effectively execute exercises like the joint personnel exercise.”
