NATO’s counter-piracy Operation Ocean Shield flagship HNoMS Fridtjof Nansen has hosted seaborne training for students of the East African Standby Force (EASF) Maritime Task Force Command Training course (MTFCT).
MTFCT is an initiative by Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland to provide training to officers from East African countries in aspects of military and law enforcement operations in a maritime environment. Commander Task Force 508 (CTF 508) offered the flagship as training platform.
Course students, including the Seychelles Special Forces Unit (SFU) boarding team, began ashore with classroom training in planning a law enforcement operation in Seychelles territorial waters. Aboard Nansen, the planned operation was then executed in live surveillance/boarding exercises with operators from the Nansen boarding team. Course students acted as Combined Task Group (CTG) during exercises, coached by instructors from MTFCT course and officers from the flagship.
“The students were on the receiving end of good coaching from Nansen’s officers. All those involved on Nansen as well as the support from the Seychelles Armed forces contributed to a successful training exercise,” said Commodore Henning Amundsen, CTF-508 Commander.
The MTFCT students came from Somalia, Kenya, Seychelles, Burundi, Djibouti, Sudan, Uganda and Rwanda.
“Exercises like these help to strengthen the capacity of our regional partners to respond to a variety of scenarios. Seaborne training provides valuable lessons in operational planning and execution and ensures they will be better prepared to function in a multi-national staff under African leadership,” he said.
Via: http://www.defenceweb.co.za/
