Date
Author
Александр МИНЕЕВ; Брюссель--Минделу
Source
Preserved copy
Translated material
NATO landed in Africa
The Alliance is learning a planetary response
A NATO amphibious landing is planned for tomorrow on the deserted Flamengo beach of the Sao Vicente island of the island nation of Cape Verde, located off the western tip of Africa. The operation will be the culmination of NATO's Exercise Resilient Jaguar, taking place in Cape Verde from 15 to 28 June. Here the West demonstrates its new military fist - the reaction force (RF).More than 7,000 soldiers, sailors and military pilots of the Alliance countries, dozens of combat aircraft, 19 ships and armored vehicles are involved in the exercises. The mobile command post is located on the US Navy headquarters ship Mount Whitney. For the first time, SRs are practicing combat skills as part of all three components: land, air and sea. This will make it possible to announce the full operational readiness of the SR before the October NATO summit in Riga.
Let us recall that the 2002 NATO Prague summit ordered that the Alliance be provided with mobile, compact and equipped with the latest technology troops with a high degree of survivability in an alien environment. It is no coincidence that an archipelago with inhospitable nature and weak infrastructure was chosen for the combat presentation of forces. The idea of the SR is that troops urgently deployed thousands of kilometers from home could not only autonomously hold a bridgehead for a month, but also solve complex combat missions.
The exercises began with a joint operation of French and Cape Verdun units. On the way from Sao Vicente airport to the city of Mindelo, the “rebels” attacked a military convoy, and then hid in the crater of the extinct Callau volcano, where they were successfully “neutralized.” This was preceded by a transfer of forces that began at the end of May. Thousands of cargo containers were delivered to the islands and military camps were built.
Since the beginning of the year, units allocated by NATO countries have been training to meet the requirements of the SR. These include the ability to interact within the military "division of labor." Not all countries provide combat rangers, fighters and naval frigates to the SR. The Hungarians, for example, have deployed a mobile seawater desalination plant in case there are not enough mineral water bottles and water cylinders imported from Europe and America for domestic needs.
Russia sent observers to the maneuvers in Cape Verde - two officers from the Ministry of Defense and three more from the apparatus of the Russian military mission to NATO in Brussels. According to Russian diplomats and military officers in Brussels, the SR could become a model for a new era of armed forces that is worth learning from. But there is also caution - who knows where and under what circumstances conflicts might break out in the future? As Vremya Novostei was told at the headquarters of the Supreme High Command of NATO Forces in Europe, with the completion of the trial run of the SR, the Alliance will be able to deploy a 25,000-strong mobile group anywhere on the planet within five days for any operations - from humanitarian rescue to combat.