The Diplomat
NATO yesterday kicked off a major military exercise in the Mediterranean involving the aircraft carriers of the United States, Spain and Italy along with all their battle groups, with the aim of improving their coordination and demonstrating the Atlantic Alliance’s “presence and deterrence”.
Between this Monday and next week, the battle group of the Spanish aircraft carrier ‘Juan Carlos I’ will join the exercise ‘Neptune Strike 2023.1’, in which the US ‘Georges HW Bush’ and the Italian ‘Cavour’ are also taking part, reports Europa Press.
This is a multi-domain exercise organised by the ‘Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO’ which will take place in the central Mediterranean with the aim of testing the ability to integrate the capabilities offered by the aircraft carrier battle groups for the defence of the Atlantic Alliance.
According to the Spanish Defence Staff (EMAD), these activities “reflect the commitment, improve the interoperability and cohesion of the allied nations and also increase NATO’s deterrence posture and presence in the Mediterranean”.
Spain is taking part in the exercise with the assets that were already on manoeuvres in the Mediterranean, having recently resumed their planned schedule after diverting their route to join the earthquake relief efforts in Turkey.
These are the aircraft carrier ‘Juan Carlos I’, the frigate ‘Blas de Lezo’ and the embarked aviation as well as a landing battalion and various vessels for amphibious exercises.
The NATO exercise also plans to carry out activities in Greece, Croatia, Albania, Romania and Hungary, among other countries.
