Seven NATO Allies are participating in the NATO exercise Dynamic Mariner-20 (DYMR20) off the coast of France.
Exercise Dynamic Mariner tests NATO’s Response Force Maritime Component (NRF/M) and interoperability with NATO forces, enhancing flexibility and improving the ability to work together among Allied nations. It runs between 25 September and 8 October 2020.
The exercise brings together 31 surface ships, 2 submarines, 3 maritime patrol aircraft, and other air assets, from Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, and the United States.
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DYMR20 is led by the NATO Maritime Command and involves Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1) and Standing NATO Maritime Group Two (SNMG2), two of NATO’s Standing Forces on active duty that contributes to the Alliance’s collective defense on a permanent basis.
NATO’s maritime strength lies in the ability of the Standing Forces and National Response Force elements to rapidly join with high readiness, high capability national forces, and task groups. Regular training between these groups is a force multiplier and provides a collectively trained and interoperable capability that NATO can confidently deploy if necessary.
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The NATO Response Force (NRF) is a highly ready and technologically advanced, multinational force made up of land, air, maritime, and Special Operations Forces (SOF) components that the Alliance can deploy quickly, wherever needed.
Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, NATO’s resilience enables us to sustain our missions, operations, and exercises in order to ensure the safety and security of our Allied Nations.
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Some exercise elements such as in-person interactions have been scaled down due to the ongoing global pandemic. All our missions have robust procedures in place to protect our people and prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Because of these enhanced measures, we have not seen active transmission within any of NATO’s Standing Naval Forces.
All our forces are able to continue conducting missions in a manner that takes precautionary measures, while still ensuring readiness. Our forces remain prepared, vigilant, and ready to act if called upon.
Image Credits: mc.nato.int
Collective defense remains the Alliance’s greatest responsibility and deterrence is a core element of NATO’s overall strategy – preventing conflict and war, protecting Allies, maintaining freedom of decision and action, and upholding the principles and values it stands for.
