On November 21st, the patrol vessel EML General Kurvits, the minehunter EML Ugandi and the military defense boat EML Risto in the Baltic Sea practiced cooperation with the Italian frigate ITS Antonio Marceglia.
“We don’t exactly manage to work with the Allied frigate on a daily basis, so it was the perfect opportunity to do a complex exercise where different ships have different training focuses – force protection on the force defense boat, EML General Kurvitsa receiving a helicopter and EML Ugandi joint maneuvers with an allied ship,” said Commodore Jüri Saska, commander of the navy.
According to the scenario, ITS Antonio Marceglia escorted the Estonian Navy minehunter in a hostile environment, providing him with security for the surrounding threats. The task of the troop defense boat was to organize asymmetric attacks on both ships.
In the next phase of the exercise, a special unit of the Italian frigate paraded to EML General Kurvitsa with the support of their helicopter crew.
ITS Antonio Marceglia arrived in Estonia for a visit and moored in the morning in Tallinn’s Old Port. Allied ships from NATO’s 1st Permanent Mine Countermeasures Group, which are preparing for a joint mine countermeasures operation with the Estonian Navy, are also on a visit to Estonia.
ITS Antonio Marceglia is a multifunctional Italian frigate, the main task of which is to deal with air defense. The ship has almost 200 crew members on board, and the armament includes anti-aircraft cannons, surface-to-surface missiles and anti-submarine torpedoes.
The main task of the Estonian Navy is the military defence of the country against threats from the sea and the sea. To this end, the Navy has three main military capabilities: naval situational awareness building, mine warfare, and surface countermeasures capabilities. As the sea is an international environment, the Estonian Navy performs its main task in cooperation with allies. In addition, the Navy guards the Estonian maritime border, participates in search and rescue work, and is responsible for the detection and elimination of marine pollution in the Estonian maritime area, and is engaged in mine clearance.