Navy aims to expand maritime security cooperation in latest multinational Middle East exercise
More than 5,000 military personnel from roughly 35 nations and international groups are embarking on a 12-day, U.S.-led maritime security exercise, marking the largest multinational training event in the Middle East region to date, according to officials involved.
This year, that engagement — U.S. Naval Forces Central Command’s International Maritime Exercise 25 — is supplying new pathways for theater-to-theater interoperability and technology-enabled cooperation in conjunction with U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa’s Cutlass Express exercise.
“Since Feb. 9, [IMX 25] has hit the ground running with several operational events, to include but not limited to maritime security operations, mine countermeasures, global health management, and unmanned systems/artificial intelligence,” a Navy spokesperson told DefenseScoop in an email Monday.
Other key areas of focus in the exercise include explosive ordnance disposal, search and rescue, vessel defense, and mass casualty response.
IMX 25, which officially kicked off from separate locations in Bahrain and Jordan on Feb. 10, is the ninth iteration of the growing event since its launch in 2012.
The spokesperson pointed to several “highlights” on the IMX itinerary this year, such as the Command Post Exercise, which “provides commanders and deputy commanders from various nations the capability to make decisions alongside multiple partners.”
“The many different subject matter expert exchanges continue to improve our cross-organization, integration, information-sharing and de-conflict command-and-control structures across multiple nations,” they told DefenseScoop.
Previous IMX iterations encompassed similar (and similarly obscure) efforts to drive integration across the international partners’ AI and drone capabilities.
The Navy spokesperson did not directly respond to DefenseScoop’s questions regarding how those involved are jointly testing and enabling new and emerging operations with AI and unmanned systems in this iteration. They instead pointed to the Navy’s first autonomous tech-pushing unit, Task Force 59.
“Established in September 2021, TF 59 has already been involved in several multilateral and bilateral exercises in the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command area of operations to enhance maritime security within the region. To date, it has tested, upgraded, evolved and operated with more than 23 different unmanned systems,” the spokesperson said.
As with IMX events in the past, this iteration also combined efforts with U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa’s annual Cutlass Express exercise.
The two are linked “in that U.S. Naval Forces Central Command has provided personnel to facilitate information-sharing between maritime operations centers across both International Maritime Exercise 25 and Cutlass Express,” the spokesperson noted.
Nations involved aim to strengthen and advance their systems’ connectivity — and increase strategic coordination between the Middle Eastern, African and European theaters, where multiple contemporary conflicts are unfolding.
“International Maritime Exercise 25 is designed to demonstrate global resolve in preserving the rules-based international order, offering a unique opportunity for participants to collaborate and showcase regional maritime security cooperation,” the spokesperson said.
