On Sunday morning of June, 21st, , the two warships came together to practise various joint exercises and trainings, including a Crossdeck exercise with Vertical Replenishment conducted by the JS OHNAMI helicopter, a Replenishments at sea, as well we Communication and Firing exercises. All these manoeuvrers are extremely demanding and required excellent skills of the personnel onboard EU NAVFOR Somalia Operation ATALANTA’s ESPS Santa Maria and the Staff of the JS OHNAMI. Since 2014, the Japanese Destroyer JS OHNAMI has conducted joint exercises with Operation ATALANTA flagships in an effort to strengthen the efficiency of tactical procedures between EU NAVFOR Somalia and other regional actors.
The warship JS OHNAMI is part of the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) and is sailing in the Gulf of Aden with Combined Task Force (CTF) 151. CTF151 focuses on the disruption of piracy and armed robbery at sea and engages with regional and other partners to build capacity and improve relevant capabilities in order to protect global maritime commerce and secure freedom of navigation.
EU NAVFOR Somalia is always eager to cooperate with actors present in the waters off the Horn of Africa, and Japan has been a key partner for ATALANTA for many years. The Cooperation Concept for ATALANTA (COCOA) emphasizes the importance of these types of engagements with key actors present in the region. COCOA is a mechanism that Operation ATALANTA developed to increase synergies with regional states and military actors present in the region.
Thank you to Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force for the continued, much-valued cooperation!
