Northern Eagle 2012 Exercise Kicks off in Norwegian Sea

21.08.2012 According to Northern Fleet (NF) spokesman Capt 1 Rank Vadim Serga, the Northern Eagle 2012 three-lateral naval exercise started today in the Norwegian Sea. Russian Navy is represented by NF destroyer Admiral Chabanenko. Norwegian Navy delegated offshore patrol frigate Nordkapp, and US Navy sent Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Farragut.

In Tuesday morning participating warships left Norwegian port Bodø where all episodes and elements of the coming exercise were finally agreed. Representatives of all parties will direct different episodes by turn. Such direction scheme has been tested many times at the Pomor Russo-Norwegian exercise and was found the most effective for joint activities at sea.

At the first stage of the international exercise, crews of the ships practiced elements of joint maneuvering and held a communication drill. The most interesting episode of the first stage will be inspection of a "violator vessel" to be jointly held by Russian and American marines. Search teams will be brought to the violator vessel by ship-based helicopters.

Northern Eagle is the only naval exercise giving Russia, Norway, and the US an opportunity to practice cooperation in planning and performing of anti-terror naval operations in economically critical zones of the Arctic Ocean. Earlier, this exercise took place in Arctic latitudes in 2004, 2006, and 2008.

The second principal objective of the international exercise is joint rescue operations in Arctic.

The Northern Eagle 2012 exercise will be held in four areas of the Norwegian and the Barents seas and will finish on Aug 25, 2012 with the call of participating ships at NF main base Severomorsk.