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The 13th edition of Cutlass Express, a joint multinational naval exercise, was launched in Seychelles to enhance maritime security in Eastern Africa and the Western Indian Ocean region. Countries in the region are set to learn how to disrupt and prevent common maritime threats through this multinational exercise. Cutlass Express is a maritime exercise that takes place every year to promote national and regional maritime security in the region.
The 13th edition of Cutlass Express, a joint multinational naval exercise, was launched in Seychelles Mauritius, and Kenya to enhance maritime security in Eastern Africa and the Western Indian Ocean region. Countries in the region are set to learn how to disrupt and prevent common maritime threats through this multinational exercise. Cutlass Express is a maritime exercise that takes place every year to promote national and regional maritime security in the region.
sponsored by U.S. Africa Command and led by U.S. Naval Forces Africa (NAVAF), is designed to promote national and regional security in the Western Indian Ocean, increase interoperability between the U.S., African nations, and international partners, and improve combined maritime law enforcement capacity in the region.
There are three simultaneous exercises taking place in Seychelles, Mauritius, and Kenya, with varying numbers of Seychellois officers taking part in each exercise stated by the Lieutenant Colonel and Commanding Officer of the Special Forces Unit in Seychelles, Archil Mondon. Cutlass Express in Seychelles will include interdiction, search and rescue, small boat operations, and the law of the sea training modules and scenarios. This year’s Cutlass Express includes an in-port preparatory phase, followed by six days of at-sea scenarios in the western Indian Ocean.
As a result of these exercises, Seychelles and the countries of this region will be enabled to effectively disrupt and prevent common maritime threats, increasing the security and prosperity of the entire western Indian Ocean, said U.S. Navy Commander Draper.
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Seychelles, a group of 115 islands spread over an exclusive economic zone of 1.4 million square kilometers, finds it difficult to deter and suppress illegal activities at sea, due to its immense maritime space. The island nation signed a bilateral agreement, the first of its kind, with the United States in July 2021, effectively allowing U.S. naval forces to work on Seychelles’ military vessels and vice versa in maritime operations to help to protect its territorial waters.
