On June 21, the US Sixth Fleet announced it would participate in the Sea Breeze exercise that will take place from June 28 to July 10. Washington says that “this year’s iteration has the largest number of participating nations in the exercise’s history, with 32 countries from six continents providing 5,000 troops, 32 ships, 40 aircraft and 18 special operations and dive teams scheduled to participate.”
This is important because it comes days after a UK warship and Russia appeared to clash off the coast of Crimea. Ukraine claims Crimea, but Russia annexed the area in 2014. There have been other tensions between Russia and Ukraine and Russia and the US, increasingly at sea in recent years. Ukraine is fighting a war against Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Russia has warned the UK against what it sees as provocations.
This means that this year’s exercise, as large as it is, has more ramifications for the region. The US says that “Ukraine and the US are co-hosting the exercise in the Black Sea with participation and support coming from 32 countries in total: Albania, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, France, Georgia, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Morocco, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Senegal, Spain, South Korea, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the United States.”
Another angle that is interesting is the number of ships and the fact that the drill will concentrate on complex operations such as “amphibious warfare, land maneuver warfare, diving operations, maritime interdiction operations, air defense, special operations integration, anti-submarine warfare, and search and rescue operations.”
NAVAL JOINT drills are increasingly important. Israel hosted Noble Dina, a naval drill, back in March. France and Cyprus joined Israel and Greece for the first time. Egypt and Greece have been working more closely together in recent years and the UAE has begun to play a greater role in the Eastern Mediterranean via close work with Greece. Israel and the UAE also participated in the Greek-led Iniochos drill in April. Israel, Italy, the UK and the US also trained with F-35s in Italy earlier this month in a drill called Falcon Strike.
“The involvement of HMS Queen Elizabeth and her air wing in this campaign also sends a wider message,” Commodore Steve Moorhouse, commander of the UK Carrier Strike Group, said in a statement. "It demonstrates the speed and agility with which a UK-led Carrier Strike Group can inject fifth-generation combat power into any operation, anywhere in the world, thereby offering the British government, and our allies, true military and political choice."
It was HMS Defender that ran into tensions with Russia last week. Russian jets and ships have shadowed the British ship. Moscow is now doing drills in the Mediterranean, saying that it does not rule out a “tough response” to the UK. This sets the stage for a week or more of tensions.