EUNAVFOR, NATO and Russian Navies Exercise Together Off the Horn of Africa

On 31 January 2012, the EUNAVFOR flagship ESPS PATIÑO conducted a Replenishment at Sea (RAS) with the NATO Flagship TGN GIRESUN watched by Russian observers before the exercise was repeated by the Russian Flagship Admiral Tributs with the Russian Fleet Tanker Pechenga with NATO and EU NAVFOR observers embarked.

During the morning, the EU NAVFOR and NATO ships demonstrated to several Russian observers on-board the two Flagships a RAS manoeuvre where the ships steer parallel courses only 40 – 50 metres apart while passing fuel between the ships.

In the afternoon, the same challenging seamanship exercise was performed by the Russian Task Force units, this time watched by EU NAVFOR and NATO observers.

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