Exercise Eager Lion 2016 begins with international press conference

AMMAN, JORDAN

05.15.2016

Story by Master Sgt. William Price 

U.S. Central Command Public Affairs           

Brig. Gen. Fahd Al-Damen, director of Joint Training for the Jordanian Armed Forces, and Army Maj. Gen. Ralph H. Groover III, U.S. Central Command director of Exercises and Training Directorate, fielded questions from more than 30 reporters from the Middle East, U.S. and international affiliates.
“This exercise aims to sustain and enhance common cooperation between the two sides and hone our defensive capabilities and training on making defensive plans,” Al-Damen said. “We must sharpen our bilateral capabilities to respond to security threats and internal crises, such as the protection of vital installations with an added emphasis on refining the proficiency of forces during night operations.”
Eager Lion 16, now in its sixth year, is comprised of more than 6,000 military and civilian participants of the Jordanian and the U.S. governments. The bilateral exercise focuses on strengthening the military-to-military relationships and further demonstrates the dual commitment to building partnership capacity, and regional security and stability.
“Eager Lion is the premier USCENTCOM exercise with our Jordanian partners since its inception in 2011,” Groover opened. “The exercise provides us with the opportunity to develop relationships and capabilities. Those relationships we build here during the exercise will be enduring ones, that ensure our success in future joint endeavors.”
Both generals fielded queries for nearly an hour from the invited pool of media, which included reporters from BBC Arabic, CNN, Al Jazeera, Al-Arabyia, and Sky News, as well as local Jordanian news outlets, to emphasize the importance of Eager Lion. Addressing border security and other regional threats, the number of troops involved and variants in this year’s iteration, Al-Damen and Groover were equally concise and forthright with the focus of the exercise: strengthening partnership capacity and interoperability between the two nations, while reaching all of their training objectives.
Eager Lion 16 will consist of a 10-day series of simulated scenarios to facilitate a coordinated, partnered military response to conventional and unconventional threats. The scenarios developed will include border security, command and control, cyber defense and battle space management.
The exercise is slated to conclude May 24 with a combined live-fire exercise, during which two B-52 aircraft – out of Barksdale Air Force Base, La. – are scheduled to fly 14,000 miles round-trip to exercise air-intercept training with Jordanian fighter aircraft and conduct a live, conventional-weapons drop in coordination with U.S. and Jordanian mechanized armored vehicles, heavy artillery and ground forces.

• Date Taken: 05.15.2016
• Date Posted: 05.16.2016 03:43
• Story ID: 198195
• Location: AMMAN, JO