Destroyer ARA Almirante Brown (DEAB) has arrived in El Callao and is preparing to participate in the multinational exercise Silent Force Exercise (SIFOREX), with members of the Submarine Force along with other exchange officers on board.
SIFOREX is an exercise focused on the use of the Submarine Weapon combining the anti-submarine and anti-surface environments. It is organized by the US Navy and the Peruvian Navy and invited naval forces; this time the Navies of Argentina and Ecuador.
It is the first time that the Argentine Navy will participate with naval means in this exercise: ARA Almirante Brown, the embarked Fennec helicopter and more than 200 sailors, including members of the General Staff, Antisubmarine Control officers, submariners, sonar operators, and underwater weapons.
The deployment of naval assets includes surface ships such as destroyers and frigates, submarines and air units, mostly Peruvian, with the participation of the U.S. Navy’s P-8As.
The arrival
After sailing for 20 days and about 4,000 nautical miles from its departure from the Puerto Belgrano Naval Base, the Argentine surface unit was received by the frigate BAP Bolognesi, which accompanied the destroyer to moor at the dock of the El Callao Naval Base. The Commander of the Surface Force, Rear Admiral Alfredo Osorio Bromberg, was present.
She was also received by the Commander of the Naval Base, Captain Ronald Guerrero, together with the Commander of the Submarine Squadron, Captain Ismael Necochea Pino; the Naval Attaché in Peru, Captain Juan Pablo Parant, and the Military and Defense Attaché of the Embassy of Argentina in Peru, Colonel Ignacio José Subeldía; among other Argentine and Peruvian authorities.
After the presentation of the unit in the port and the protocol visits, meetings were held during the morning for final guidelines regarding mission and general coordination, prior to the departure of Almirante Brown to an area adjacent to El Callao where the maritime phase of the exercise will be carried out between September 6 and 9.
SIFOREX XIV
“It will be 3 intense days for this exercise where the conventional submarine and its stealth continue to be a real global threat today,” said Lieutenant Commander Nicolás Ezequiel Alfonso, a member of the Anti-Submarine Warfare Commission of the Sea Fleet Command (COFM) embarked as General Staff in the DEAB.
He also listed the relevant aspects for SIFOREX XIV: “It is the first time that the Navy is part of it with naval means; It is an anti-submarine exercise of excellence because different means participate, whether surface, aircraft and submarines; it is a great training advantage for the Navy to carry out antisubmarine operations in the Pacific Ocean with oceanographic and hydrometeorological conditions, very different from our usual environment.”
Captain Alfonso explained: “The exercise proposes to operate with two conventional Class 209 ANGAMOS submarines of the Peruvian Navy, and we are going to carry out different practices that will go from a basic complexity, through an intermediate to an advanced one.”
“This does not mean that the basic stage is easier or less difficult than the advanced one, but that it is about increasing complexity; For example, the search for a submarine with sonar will begin, and an anti-submarine aircraft search will be added. It will escalate in search and attack, then coordinating with surface units and aircraft, ending with a search and attack of two submarines protecting a high-value vessel,” he detailed.
The exercise involves hours of navigation, a great deal of effort and deliberation to coordinate the means available and face an adversary who does not wish to be seen.