The so-called exercise took place in Augusta from 18 to 25 September Seaborder, organized annually since 2008 and part of the "5+5" collaboration agreement signed in Paris, on 21 December 2004, by the defense ministers of the countries on the two shores of the Western Mediterranean: France, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain , Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.
The initiative bases its dimension on cooperation in the field of maritime surveillance and involves the creation of joint training sessions whose aim is to allow crews to operate together in the fight against illicit activities and in operations to safeguard human life at sea , increasing mutual knowledge and the exchange of information, also through the use of the VRMTC (Virtual Regional Maritime Traffic Center) network.
This year's edition, hosted by Italy, saw a large participation, 8 naval units, 3 air assets and 7 boarding teams, belonging to eight different countries: Algeria, Morocco, France, Spain, Malta, Tunisia, Libya and Italy. As part of the activities at the fourth naval division, a multinational operations center, called maritime operation center from which, through the V-RMTC platform, the 14 delegates from the different nations supported and exercised (for specific training moments) the command and control of activities at sea.
The exercise Seaborder 2023 it took place in two successive phases, one in port and one at sea. The first phase, lasting 3 days, was based on deepening mutual knowledge and sharing national expertise through specific workshop dedicated to maritime interdiction and security operations boarding, first aid and medical evacuation, and search and rescue operations at sea. The second phase, lasting 4 days, took place in the waters off the eastern coasts of Sicily where, based on a fictitious scenario, the Task Force conducted various search and rescue and rescue training activities. maritime interdiction operation. The development of the phase at sea has allowed us to increase the level of integration of the participating units, achieving significant results of interoperability of the forces, as demonstrated by the insertion on ship Ticino, of a team of riflemen from the marine brigade Saint Mark through an AW139 helicopter of the Maltese Armed Forces.
La Seaborder 2023 confirmed the tactical-operational value of the activities carried out, effectively contributing to the strengthening of mutual knowledge and interoperability between the European and African navies that overlook the shores of the Western Mediterranean, and at the same time continued to highlight the strategic value of 5+5 initiative, demonstrating how the multilateral approach can represent one of the keys to success in addressing the challenges affecting the Mediterranean Sea for the protection of trade routes and the defense of common interests. As part of the work of the seminars carried out on land and during the activities carried out at sea, in fact, the commitment of all participating countries in working to achieve an even more effective level of integration and interoperability of the forces was confirmed and strengthened.
