This summer, tens of thousands of U.S. Navy service members and Marines will participate in the largest naval exercise in 10 years, designed to prepare for long-range operations in the event of a future conflict with China and Russia. Pictured is the 2018 Rim of the Pacific military exercise.
This summer, tens of thousands of U.S. Navy service members and Marines will participate in the largest naval exercise in 10 years, designed to prepare for future conflicts with China and Russia over long distances.
U.S. aircraft carriers, submarines, military aircraft, unmanned ships and about 25,000 service members will participate in Large Scale Exercise 2021 (LSE), which begins in late summer, military.com reported on May 21.
The large scale exercise will span 17 time zones and will involve Navy officers and Marines deployed in the United States, Africa, Europe and the Pacific. Field exercises will be held in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
U.S. Fleet Commander (USFFC) Adm. Christopher Grady told Military.com military website in an email, “LSE is more than just training, it leverages the combined combat power of multiple naval forces that can share sensors, weapons and platforms across all domains in a globally contested environment. , weapons and platforms.”
He added that this will be the first in a series of exercises that the Navy will continue to promote to create a superior maritime force.
This summer, tens of thousands of U.S. Navy service members and Marines will participate in the largest naval exercise in 10 years, designed to prepare for how to conduct long-range operations in the event of a future conflict with China and Russia. Pictured is the 2014 Rim of the Pacific military exercise.
After decades of missions targeting the Middle East, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps are working more closely together. As confrontation and competition between the U.S. and Communist China and Russia continues to grow, the Navy is shifting its focus from ground-based fighting against terrorist groups to deterring Russian and Chinese aggression.
More than three dozen units will participate in the large-scale exercise on the ground, while more than 50 other units will participate remotely, said Rear Admiral Tabitha Klingensmith, Fleet Forces Command. Participating units will include personnel from the Marine Corps’ three expeditionary forces, as well as officers and men from the Navy’s Second, Third, Sixth, Seventh and Tenth Fleets.
While the U.S. military has conducted other major naval exercises, such as Bold Alligator and RIMPAC, Klingensmith said the scope and complexity of training activities for the upcoming large-scale military exercise are increasing.
U.S. Navy Chief of Naval Operations Mike Gilday called the upcoming large-scale exercise the largest naval training event in a generation (in 10 years).
That’s because combining live and virtual participants will expand the scope of the exercise beyond what can be achieved by conducting live exercises only, Klingensmith said.
“LSE 2021 will use similar technology you see in the video game environment to expand the number of participants by linking commands and units around the globe online, thereby increasing the number of field and online participants to better replicate realistic situations that the Navy and Marine Corps may encounter in the future.” She added.
Navy officers and Marines participating in the exercise will test several concepts they may encounter in the event of a conflict with the Chinese Communist Party. Scenarios will test the ability of Navy officers and Marines to conduct distributed operations; Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO); littoral operations in a contested environment; and command and control in a contested environment, among others.
We aim to use operational concepts like decentralized maritime operations to address operational issues at the (carrier) strike group level and rapidly advance organizational learning, Grady said.
“LSE 2021 is important because we will take these lessons learned from large-scale exercises and apply them to our future synchronized, integrated operations in all areas of the globe to ensure we maintain superior maritime forces in high-end combat.” He said.
The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps are finalizing the details of the exercise.
Recent Comments