During recent counter-piracy patrols off the coast of Somalia, Operation “Atalanta” warship ESPS “Galicia” conducted a Replenishment at Sea (RAS) with French Navy ship, FS “Var”, which is currently deployed as part of the Combined Maritime Forces in the region.

On Friday 26 June 2015, ESPS “Galicia” and Japanese warship JDS “Ikazuchi” encountered at sea in the Gulf of Aden.  The Commander of the Japanese Escort Division 1, Captain Atsushi Nakasuji and the Ikazuchi Comanding Officer, Commander Kazuharu Hokazono, as part of the Combined Task Force 151 (CTF-151), welcomed the Force Commander of the EUNAVFOR (and COMGRUEUROMARFOR) in Somalia, Rear Admiral Alfonso Gómez Fernández de Córdoba and some members from his staff on board the Japanese destroyer. The meeting at sea shows the close cooperation between the two counter-piracy tasks forces.

CTF443 (COMNAV) and COMEUROMARFOR (ALFLOT) were in the area of operations during the re-embarkation of the Landing Force.

During the TACTICAL PHASE (23 to 26 JUN15) took place the amphibious assault. EUROMARFOR units protected the amphibious force from conventional and unconventional attacks.

Operation Atalanta warship, ITS Libeccio, carried out counter-piracy training with the Royal Omani Navy during a port visit to Salalah.

The Exercise CONTEX-PHIBEX 15 is now in Phase 3. Tactical Phase (TACEX from 23-26JUN), it includes an Amphibious Raid.

This phase is focused on real time planning and execution of the full spectrum of operations in support of crisis management. In detail, this phase is governed by the deployment of an amphibious force to conduct an initial entry force operation, before the beginning of a peace enforcement operation. It also includes the enforcement of an embargo operation, with possible asymmetric threat opposition.

EUROMARFOR units, integrated in the Task Force 443, have been conducting the CET-FIT phases according to the Schedule of Events.

On the 21th June 2015 new units joined the force, namelly ESPS Juan Carlos I and ESPS Castilla. This is a signal that the amphibious assault will take place in the next few days.

New photos were added to the picture gallery of CONTEX-PHIBEX 15.

During a pre-planed exercise ESPS Cristóbal Colón fires an exercise torpedo.

On Friday 19 June 2015, during her visit to Mahé, Operational Atalanta flagship, ESPS Galicia, in support of EU sister mission, EUCAP Nestor, and the Seychellois security agencies, conducted a training exercise that implemented the Seychelles national contingency plan for anti-pollution, search and rescue and fire fighting.

On Thursday 18^th June, the Italian Warship Libeccio assisted the merchant vessel with Italian flag “Roberto Rizzo” that was adrift and was suffering from engines problems 55 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia.

On early morning of the 18^th June 2015, the Flag Ship took part on the celebration of the National Day of Seychelles. The EUROMARFOR representation, besides the FCdr, RA Gómez Fernández de Córdoba, was composed by 12 ESPS Galicia’s crewmembers.

EUROMARFOR Task Group is at sea participating in the multinational exercise CONTEX-PHIBEX 15.

In this exercise, a total of twelve Portuguese and eight foreign ships (from Spain, France, Holland and Germany), a marine detachment  from Portugal and Spain and also a number of aircrafts from the Portuguese Air Force, encompassing a total of 4,000 military personnel. The exercise is lead  by Vice Admiral Pereira da Cunha (Naval Commander - COMNAV).

Force Commander Strengthens Ties with the Seychelles Authorities during a Port Visit by EUROMARFOR Flagship ESPS “Galicia”.

Captain (SPN) Domingo Gómez-Pamo Guerra, Commanding Officer of the EUROMARFOR Task Group during CONTEX-PHIBEX 15 exercise, organized a meeting with the commanding officers of the tree EUROMARFOR ships and his international staff, on board of ESPS Cristóbal Colón, on 15 June 2015,

The purpose of this meeting was to prepare the participation in CONTEX-PHIBEX 15 achieving the best integration and cohesion between the ships and the chain of command.

An EUROMARFOR Task Group is activated from 15th to 26th of June 2015 to participate in the Portuguese Exercise “CONTEX/PHIBEX 2015 AND HARBOUR PROTECTION EXPERIMENTATION” (CT-PH15/HPX15). The exercise has been planned and is conducted by Portuguese Naval Command (COMNAV) to take place off the Portuguese western coast.

After participating in a PASSEX (a short exercise on transit) with the Portugese Air Force and the NATO martime force SNMG1, the French warship 'Courbet' arrived in Lisbon on friday. She's going to participate in the CONTEX-PHIBEX 15 exercise integrating the EUROMARFOR Task Group.

The 20th Anniversary of EUROMARFOR was mentioned in the "Revista Española de Defensa".

Patrol vessel ‘Infanta Cristina’ was patrolling in vicinity of Somali coast when detected several skiffs sailing off the coast in vicinity of the former Pirate camp named Woostock. They carried out a total of five Friendly Approaches.

After visual identification prior to the Friendly Approaches, ESPS Infanta Cristina confirmed that the Somali Skiffs did not have tripwires on board and did not detect any suspicious piracy activity. Thus, the Spanish CO decided to conduct a Friendly Approach to show naval presence and to gather information about their pattern of life.

The main part of the Somali skiffs crew members were Somali non full time fishermen, who usually come from the countryside and live in very poor conditions on camps close to the beach.

Whilst conducting counter-piracy patrols off the coast of Somalia, Operation Atalanta flagship, ESPS Galicia, hosted a number of local leaders on board. 

These meetings helps to create a mutual trust and understanding between counter-piracy forces and the Somali population.

Ten Malagasy naval officers carried out counter-piracy training on board of the patrol ship Infanta Cristina during her recent visit to Diego Suarez.