The day has finally arrived after months of planning and deliberations. The South African National Defence Force welcomed the French Forces to Simon’s Town on 17 November 2022 marking the beginning of Exercise OXIDE 2022.
South Africa and France share a common territory in the Indian Ocean, and to ensure smooth interaction between France and South Africa, the forces come together to ensure bilateral interoperability in this shared territory. The objectives for the exercise this year to name a few are: interventions, surveillance, disaster relief, search and rescue, hostage negotiations and releases.
Exercise OXIDE is a joint French-South African maritime exercise that takes place every second year, with the South African National Defence Force being the host nation for the year 2022.
On arrival of the French Forces, Joint Task Force Commander, Captain (Navy) N.K. Goboza welcomed the French Forces to South Africa and officially opened the exercise and mentioned it is no longer the South African National Defence Force and French Forces rather it has become one Joint Task Force.
Officer Commanding SAS KING SEKHUKHUNE I, Commander J.D. Mashamba mentioned at the exercise media briefing that the exercise is aimed at exchanging ideas, sharing experiences, and developing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
The Defence Attaché, Captain (Navy) A.L. De Lapeyriere also mentioned that this exercise affords both nations the ability to test their interoperability as both nations face the same maritime issues.
The exercise is scheduled from 17 to 28 November 2022.