In the spirit of fostering continued cooperation between international partners and to support counter-piracy operations in the region, US tanker USNS Bighorn has conducted a Replenishment At Sea with EU NAVFOR Spanish warship ESPS Meteoro.

Replenishment at Sea (RAS) is the most efficient way of fueling warships and removes the need for them to enter a port in order to take on fuel. This increases the time that a vessel can remain at sea and patrol the area of operations, thereby allowing warships to maintain a continued deterrence to would-be pirates. Not having to depend on harbour support also increases the flexibility to deploy many different types of ships within the area of operations.

ESPS Meteoro has been part of EU NAVFOR’s Operation Atalanta counter-piracy mission since 21^st April 2018, conducting counter-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia and assisting international merchant ships as they transit the important sea lanes around the Horn of Africa.

This RAS shows that working together and the sharing of resources between maritime military partners and EU NAVFOR is supporting EU NAVFOR’s mandate to deter, prevent and repress piracy, allowing the free flow of international maritime trade.