African Lion 22 begins, runs June 6-30 in Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal and Ghana

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class R.J. Lannom | A U.S. Army M109A6 Paladin howitzer with the Ellenwood-based Charlie Battery, 1st Battalion, 214th Field Artillery, 648th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, Georgia Army National Guard, observes fired artillery observation rounds during African Lion 2021, at the Tan Tan Training Area, Morocco, June 13, 2021. African Lion is U.S. Africa Command’s largest, premier, joint, annual exercise hosted by Morocco, Tunisia and Senegal, 7-18 June. More than 7,000 participants from nine nations and NATO train together with a focus on enhancing readiness for U.S. and partner nation forces. AL21 is a multi-domain, multi-component, and multi-national exercise, which employs a full array of mission capabilities with the goal to strengthen interoperability among participants. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. 1st Class R.J. Lannom Jr.)  

MOROCCO

06.09.2022

Story by Maj. Cain Claxton 

U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa

African Lion is U.S. Africa Command’s premier annual exercise, involving more than 7,500 service members from June 6 - 30.

Led by the U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa, African Lion 22 will execute in four countries: Morocco, Ghana, Senegal and Tunisia.

Militaries from Brazil, Chad, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom will join U.S. and host nation troops. U.S. participants come from all service components, including the Reserves and National Guard.

African Lion 22 features a joint task force command post exercise, a combined arms live fire exercise, a maritime exercise, an air exercise including bomber aircraft, a joint forcible entry with paratroopers into a field training exercise, a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear response exercise, and a humanitarian civic assistance program event.

The exercise bolsters interoperability among partner nations and supports U.S. military strategic readiness to respond to crises and contingencies in Africa and around the world.

The exercise involved months of collaboration between all participating countries to ensure proper COVID-19 mitigation.

Southern European Task Force, Africa, will establish the exercise’s combined joint task force headquarters, integrating AFRICOM components and international partners to solve a complex, trans-regional crisis.

U.S. participants come from all service components, including the Reserves and National Guard.

This effort involves strengthening our shared defense capabilities to counter transnational threats and violent extremist organizations, which is in the common good of the U.S. and African partner nations.

• Date Taken: 06.09.2022
• Date Posted: 06.09.2022 10:47
• Story ID: 422561
• Location: MA