In the training exercises to strengthen interoperability conducted by the two Navies, a nuclear submarine participates for the first time.
This exercise is being carried out in the framework of the bicentenary of the cooperation agreements conducted by the governments of Colombia and the United States.
The interoperability exercise conducted by the Colombian Navy and the United States Navy was held 70 nautical miles (130 kilometers) from Cartagena, in which a nuclear submarine, the USS Minnesota, participates for the first time.
The two Navies strengthened their anti-submarine warfare procedures to increase their interoperability and strengthen the ties of partnership and cooperation in pursuit of peace, security, defense of the western hemisphere and protection of common maritime interests, freedom of navigation and national sovereignty.
Different Resources were put to the test in these war exercises involving units of the submarine, and surface areas of the two countries, including the nuclear submarine USS Minnesota and the oceanic submarine ARC Pijao, the USS Billings, the Frigate ARC Independiente and ARC Almirante Padilla, as well as Colombian and United States aircraft.
The participation of the Colombian Navy in international operations as a global partner of NATO contributes to the collective construction of timely, relevant and adequate responses to the great global challenges in security and defense. Combined naval exercises are one of the optimal instruments for global and regional governance. Since 1960, Colombia has routinely participated in multinational naval exercises, including operations UNITAS, RIMPAC, Diesel – Electric Submarine Initiative (DESI), PANAMAX and TRADEWINDS. In the same way, Colombia participated in the Korean War as part of the UN Multinational Force in the 1950s, and more recently in 2015, in the anti-piracy operations in the Horn of Africa as part of the European Union Naval Force, in Operation Atalanta and the NATO Maritime Force in Operation Ocean Shield as well as its leadership in the Orion Naval Campaign.
Source: press-Colombian Navy
