The regional response plans were revised in 2022, following general deterioration in Euro-Atlantic security over the previous few years including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In 2023 and particularly in 2024, ‘Dynamic Mongoose’ – NATO Allied Maritime Command’s (MARCOM’s) North Atlantic ASW exercise, based around Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1) – has become a more complex activity in order to prepare navies to support those revised plans, said Rear Admiral Thomas Wall, a US Navy (USN) submariner posted at MARCOM as Commander, Submarines NATO (COMSUBNATO).
Rear Adm Wall spoke to Naval News as SNMG1 and other alliance naval ships sailed from Stavanger, Norway on 29 April to spend two weeks conducting ‘Dynamic Mongoose’ in Norwegian Sea waters.
“Our exercises have got much more complex over the last year, maybe two years. It’s been driven by the fact that we revised our regional plans,”
Rear Admiral Thomas Wall, Commander, Submarines NATO (COMSUBNATO)
“Because those plans have been revised, we’ve anchored ourselves on them, and we’re exercising in preparation for them. So, we’re focused on the capability we need to implement those regional plans,” the admiral continued.
“Because of that, our exercises have got more challenging and more complex,” he explained. “For this ‘Dynamic Mongoose’ exercise, if you look at basic, intermediate, and advanced types of events [exercise serials], over 50 percent are advanced; the remainder are all intermediate.”
“We don’t have any basic events in ‘Mongoose’,” Rear Adm Wall added.
The main difference between the serial types is the level of co-ordination needed to meet required serial outputs. As the complexity increases, co-ordination between multiple platforms below, on, and above the surface is required, building interoperability and preparing platforms for potential real-world situations.
Underlining the difference between ‘Dynamic Mongoose 24’ and previous ‘Mongoose’ exercises, Rear Adm Wall said, simply: “It’s much more complex.”
Rear Admiral Joaquin Ruiz Escagedo, a Spanish Navy officer posted as Commander SNMG1, emphasized that ‘Dynamic Mongoose’ is a high-level event.
“ASW is very complex warfare. We need to practice. For NATO, it is a priority to recover this type of warfare,” Rear Adm Ruiz Escagedo told a press conference, held onboard SNMG1’s flagship – the Spanish Navy’s F-100 Alvaro de Bazan-class frigate ESPS Almirante Juan de Borbon – just before the ships sailed.
“It is [also] a message of NATO deterrence and collective defence, and of NATO capability to undergo these types of operations with ships, aircraft, and submarines of many different countries working together. For us, it’s an advanced exercise.”
Rear Admiral Joaquin Ruiz Escagedo, Commander SNMG1
The advanced complexity built into the exercise is also reflected in the mass – the number of assets – that are participating. Exercise numbers include five submarines, seven escort vessels (frigates and patrol ships), and eight maritime patrol aircraft (MPAs), with 10 NATO members providing this collection of platforms.
“I would say the outstanding part of this exercise is the number of assets,” said Rear Adm Ruiz Escagedo.
“For this exercise, SNMG1 has been augmented by some other ships, MPAs, and submarines. It will be a great exercise to … train interoperability between NATO countries in the maritime domain, and practice the co-ordination – which is essential for ASW – between the resources we have to hunt those submarines.”
For naval operations, a core aim of NATO’s revision of its regional response plans was to enable the SNMGs – which are deployed permanently at sea – to forward deploy more regularly into key regions and to draw in regional allies for exercises and operations.
As regards the operational significance of the Norwegian Sea and wider North Atlantic, “This year’s exercise takes place against the backdrop of increased NATO maritime activity in such a strategically important and dynamic region,” Rear Adm Wall told the press conference.“The permanent groups bring the capability to incorporate many other assets,” Rear Adm Ruiz Escagedo added. Here, he explained, NATO’s long-established and commonly used tactics, techniques, and procedures, when combined with a core MARCOM exercise like ‘Dynamic Mongoose’, make such integration straightforward. “If it is needed, it’s very easy to integrate a much more numerous group of assets within the same group. That’s what we are exercising in the next two weeks,” said Rear Adm Ruiz Escagedo.
Watch our video coverage of Dynamic Mongoose 2024:
