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GABES, Tunisia — The San Antonio-class dock landing ship USS Arlington (LPD 24), attached to the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group (ARG), arrived to Gabes, Tunisia in preparation to participate in exercise AFRICAN LION 2022, June 17, 2022.
USS Arlington and elements of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit are slated to participate in exercise African Lion 2022 from June 21 to June 26 as part of their scheduled 2022 deployment in order to enhance the U.S. Africa Command partnership and security cooperation with the Tunisian Ministry of Defense. While in Gabes, USS Arlington will conduct ship to shore operations and air operations to off-load and on-load U.S. Marine Corps equipment and personnel and in support of exercise AFRICAN LION 22.
“Exercise African Lion promises to be a fantastic exercise for the Marines of the 22nd MEU,” said Lt. Col. Christopher Myette, executive officer of the 22nd MEU. “During African Lion, the MEU will have the opportunity to exercise a number of our core skills as we train side by side with our Tunisian partners to promote security and stability in the region.”
Led by the U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa, AFRICAN LION 22 will execute in four countries: Morocco, Ghana, Senegal and Tunisia. Militaries from Brazil, Chad, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom will join U.S. and host nation troops. U.S. participants come from all service components, including the Reserves and National Guard. The 22nd MEU will participate in the combined arms live fire exercise, maritime exercise, and chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear response exercise. The exercise sets the theater for access and bolsters interoperability among partner nations. The exercise also involved months of collaboration between all participating countries to ensure proper COVID-19 mitigation protocols are set in place and adhered to.
Southern European Task Force, Africa, establishes the exercise’s combined joint task force headquarters, integrating AFRICOM components and international partners to solve a complex, trans-regional crisis. U.S. participants come from all service components.
This effort involves strengthening our shared defense capabilities to counter transnational threats and violent extremist organizations, which is in the common good of the U.S. and African partner nations.
The Kearsarge ARG and embarked 22nd MEU is under the command and control of Task Force 61/2. The ARG consists of Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3); the USS Arlington; and the Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship USS Gunston Hall (LSD 44).
Embarked commands with the Kearsarge ARG include Amphibious Squadron SIX, Fleet Surgical Team 2, Tactical Air Control Squadron 22, Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 28, Assault Craft Unit 2, Assault Craft Unit 4, Naval Beach Group 2, Beach Master Unit 2, and 22MEU.
The 22nd MEU includes the command element; the aviation combat element, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263 (Reinforced); the ground combat element, Battalion Landing Team 2/6 (Reinforced); and the logistics combat element, Combat Logistics Battalion 26.
Amphibious ready groups and larger amphibious task forces provide military commanders a wide range of flexible capabilities including maritime security operations, expeditionary power projection, strike operations, forward naval presence, crisis response, sea control, deterrence, counter-terrorism, information operations, security cooperation and counter-proliferation, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
For over 80 years, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-U.S. Naval Forces Africa (NAVEUR-NAVAF) has forged strategic relationships with our Allies and Partners, leveraging a foundation of shared values to preserve security and stability.
Headquartered in Naples, Italy, NAVEUR-NAVAF operates U.S. naval forces in the U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) and U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM) areas of responsibility. U.S. Sixth Fleet is permanently assigned to NAVEUR-NAVAF, and employs maritime forces through the full spectrum of joint and naval operations.
| Date Taken: | 06.17.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 06.17.2022 07:22 |
| Story ID: | 423222 |
| Location: | GABES , TN |
| Web Views: | 1,759 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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