On 4 October, after the logistical stop in the port of Djibouti, the Italian FREMM class frigate (European Multi-Mission Frigates) Virginio Fasan, currently engaged as a flag ship of the European Operation Atalanta for the fight against piracy in the Horn of Africa, he conducted, in the waters of the Gulf of Aden, a training activity combined with the Indian frigate Trishul.
The two units have carried out several exercises, aimed at sharing and refining the skills of merchant traffic control in the context of Maritime Security.
In particular, exercises have been carried out by boarding operations - in which the specialist staff of the Marine Brigade Saint Mark embarked aboard ship Fasan, and the staff of the inspection team of the Indian ship, trained in the practical execution of the procedures for carrying out documentary and cargo control of a merchant ship - as well as a maneuvering exercise for the flanking between the units, preparatory for the positioning between two ships that need to refuel at sea, i.e. a RAS (Refueling at Sea).
These exercises, in naval jargon, fall within the so-called "PASSEX", or passage exercises carried out when two military units belonging to different cooperating forces meet at sea.
During the exercise, the force commander of the operation Atalanta, Rear Admiral Fabio Gregori, took the opportunity to go aboard the Indian frigate to greet the commander and the crew and share the different experiences in conducting anti-piracy operations in order to favor an increasingly effective coordination.
Ship Fasan, commanded by the frigate captain Sebastiano Rossitto, has been engaged for over two months in anti-piracy activities as a command unit of the Task Force 465 - Atalanta operation, while the frigate Trishul has been operating for several months in the Indian Ocean in order to ensure the activities of protection and escort to the Indian merchant convoys that cross the waters of the Gulf of Aden to and from Europe.
At the end of the training, the two units resumed their respective activities, albeit with different mandates, operating both to ensure the same objective, namely the Maritime Security in this important region of the globe.
