Eastern Mediterranean. The destroyer Louis Durand de La Penne of the Italian Navy, took part in the multinational exercise EUNOMIA 2020, as part of the initiative called "Four-party cooperation Italy - France - Cyprus - Greece".
The exercise, carried out from the early morning hours of Wednesday 26 August to 28 August, involved the Nave crew Durand de La Penne and the students of the second class of the Naval Academy, embarked for the summer education campaign, in an intense series of joint exercises with the French Navy, the Greek Navy and the Cypriot Navy.
There are multiple air and naval assets that each of the participating States used in this activity, including the French frigate Lafayette, the Greek frigate Kountouriotis and the Cypriot patrol boat Ioannides. There are also numerous aircraft assets, such as eight Greek F-16s and an Embraer R-99, three Flurry French, as well as various types of helicopters.
The units, south of the island of Cyprus, engaged in a sequence of close kinematic maneuvers, demonstrating great synergy, coordination and understanding between the various European navies involved. They also participated in a simulated shipwreck search and recovery activity, and then moved on to an air defense exercise, with Nave Durand de La Penne on the front line to protect naval training.
A tight and extremely stimulating program that constituted an unmissable training and training opportunity not only for the ship's crew Durand de La Penne, but also and above all for the students of the Naval Academy. The cadets, in their first experience aboard an operational ship, are in fact completing the 2020 Education Campaign which will soon lead them to wear the first officer degree, that is, that of aspiring ensign: a crucial step in their professional training.
The launch of a four-party cooperation (QUAD) was born on the joint initiative of Italy and France in order to protect the freedom of navigation, conduct naval diplomacy activities and increase interoperability between the participating Navies, guaranteeing a continuous air and naval presence in the Eastern Mediterranean. in compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
In this scenario, Italy, through its naval instrument, effectively ensures its participation in the initiative, with a view to protecting national energy interests, strengthening cooperation, consolidating coordination with the navies involved and other maritime devices operating in the area and contribute to the presence and surveillance activities in the region.
