Large-scale Ukrainian-American military exercises Sea Breeze-2017 are to be held in Odesa and Mykolaiv regions, and in the northwestern part of the Black Sea in July, in accordance with NATO standards, press secretary of Ukraine`s Defense Ministry Maksym Prauta told a briefing, according to an UNIAN correspondent.
In particular, he stated that the final conference on planning Sea Breeze-2017 had been held in Odesa. The drills are aimed at training joint actions of multinational authorities and forces during the maritime security operation in the crisis region.
”Besides representatives of Ukrainian and American navies, the conference was attended by representatives of Great Britain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia, Italy, Canada, Lithuania, Moldova, Germany, Norway, Poland, Romania, Turkey, France and Sweden. Servicemen of other Ukrainian military formations also took part in the event,” Prauta said.
He noted that the main feature of Sea Breeze-2017 would be a change in the structure of the headquarters, which would comprise the exercise control and Naval Command headquarters, developed according to NATO standards
In addition, international maneuvers will be held in a ”free play” mode.
During Sea Breeze-2017, the multinational headquarters of the naval command will plan and manage the training, decision-making and supervising not only the ship`s tactical groups, but also the coastal and air force components.
”This will allow testing the ability of the naval command`s perspective headquarters to manage forces in operations under NATO standards,” Prauta said.
He also noted that the exercises would be preceded by the comprehensive coursework of Ukrainian military seamen with the involvement of foreign experts. In addition, there will be exercised the phases of planning operations without involving the main forces, which will increase the ability of the naval command headquarters to conduct an active phase of international maneuvers.
As reported, the Ukrainian and U.S. Navies had planned the conduct of the Sea Breeze-2017 exercises.
