Exercice African Lion 2021

Le Maroc et les États-Unis lancent la planification de l’exercice « African Lion 21 »

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Le commandant en chef adjoint de l’armée américaine en Europe et en Afrique, le général-major, Andrew Rowling, a affirmé que « le Maroc était l’un des partenaires les plus forts des Etats-Unis dans la lutte contre le terrorisme, ajoutant que le Royaume était un allié majeur non-OTAN ». Et d’étayer: « Le Maroc est un acteur central dans les problèmes auxquels l’Afrique du Nord et le Moyen-Orient sont aujourd’hui confrontés ».

Le  général-major Andrew Rowling, qui est le commandant de la Task Force Europe du Sud, a, également dans une réponse à une question du journal en ligne Hespress, en marge d’une conférence de presse tenue par le commandement de l’armée américaine en Europe et en Afrique, salué les relations étroites entre les armées américaine et marocaine. « Nous sommes extrêmement enthousiastes et fiers de travailler avec les Forces armées royales marocaines et nous nous efforçons ensemble de rendre les manœuvres de l’African Lion plus réussies chaque année », a-t-il ajouté.

Contrairement à ce qui a été rapporté par certains médias, le Centre régional des médias pour l’Afrique du département d’Etat américain a confirmé que la majorité des manœuvres de l’African Lion se déroulerait comme à l’accoutumée au Maroc, en plus de la Tunisie et du Sénégal. Plusieurs médias nationaux et internationaux ont rapporté faussement que la Tunisie accueillera, en juin prochain, la plus grande partie des exercices militaires multinationaux « African Lion » parrainés par les États-Unis chaque année. Ce sont des données inexactes qui ont été diffusées après un briefing téléphonique du commandement de l’armée américaine en Europe et en Afrique, qui a eu lieu avec certains représentants des médias mardi dernier.

Depuis le début des manœuvres « African Lion », la plupart de ces exercices militaires se déroulent au Maroc, et cette année ils se dérouleront au Sahara marocain dans les secteurs de Mahbas, Dakhla et Tan Tan, alors que certains exercices sont organisés en Tunisie et au Sénégal. En novembre dernier, une réunion de haut niveau s’est tenue au quartier général de la région sud des Forces armées royales à Agadir, entre le général de corps d’armée El Farouk Belkhir, commandant du district sud, et le général major Andrew Rolling, commandant adjoint des forces américaines en Europe et Afrique. C’était dans le cadre justement du démarrage des préparatifs pour les plus grandes manœuvres du continent africain, « African Lion ». Les manœuvres « African Lion 21 » rassembleront environ dix mille soldats de près de 20 pays et qui sont, les Etats-Unis, la Grande-Bretagne, le Maroc, la Tunisie, l’Egypte, la Mauritanie, le Sénégal, la Belgique, le Canada, la France, l’Allemagne et l’Espagne.

Cela étant, les Etats-Unis sont conscients des équilibres à préserver pour relever les défis auxquels il sont confronté dans le monde, y compris ceux du Moyen-Orient et de l’Afrique (MENA). La position géographique du Maroc comme porte d’entrée du Sahara le qualifie pour jouer un rôle de pionnier dans la stratégie sécuritaire, économique et politique des Etats-Unis en Afrique. Le Maroc étant une plateforme majeure pour le lancement d’initiatives américaines en ce sens.

Le Maroc fait partie des pays sur lesquels les Etats-Unis peuvent s’appuyer pour former des alliances politiques afin de faire face aux expansions adverses. L’administration Biden tout juste arrivée, devra s’attaquer aux travaux inachevés dans certaines régions pour retrouver son leadership et notamment sur nombre de dossiers dans la région MENA. Pour réaliser ces aspirations, les Etats-Unis devront former une alliance internationale et régionale et le Royaume fait partie de ce projet que du reste « African Lion » illustre au mieux de par la diversité des nationalités à se donner la main.

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DEFENDER-Europe 21 will also be associated with two key training events:

African Lion (mid-May through mid-June) – the U.S. Africa Command premier annual training event in which nearly 5,000 military personnel from approximately 24 nations will train on medical readiness, perform large-scale live-fire exercises and conduct air, maritime and forward command post training exercises. Activities will occur primarily in Morocco.
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Associated exercises are not directly linked to DEFENDER-Europe 21, but share many of the same participants and/or assets, and occur in the same time frame.

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Militaries make final plans for African Lion 21

MOROCCO
03.26.2021
Story by Maj. Cain Claxton
Southern European Task Force Africa


AGADIR, Morocco — Planners from U.S., Morocco and other partner nation militaries met here this week to make final coordination for African Lion 21, a military exercise involving about 8,000 troops scheduled for June.

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The exercise scenario pits this multinational coalition against a state-sponsored and supported paramilitary force with near-peer capabilities."

More than 740 U.S. Army Soldiers from the Georgia Army National Guard will participate in training exercise African Lion 21 in the country of Morocco June 7-18. pic.twitter.com/9TbLYiIbQ9

— GA National Guard (@GeorgiaGuard) April 27, 2021

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More than 740 U.S. Army Soldiers from the Georgia Army National Guard will participate in training exercise African Lion 21 in the country of Morocco June 7-18.

African Lion 21 is a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff-sponsored, U.S. Africa Command-scheduled, Southern European Task Force, Africa, -led, joint and combined exercise conducted in the Kingdom of Morocco, Tunisia, and Senegal. The U.S. will deploy approximately 4,000 U.S. service members to join nearly 5,000 members of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces, Tunisian Armed Forces, Senegalese Armed Forces, and participants from the armed forces of Italy, United Kingdom, and the Netherlands, along with military observers from more than a dozen nations.

Georgia Army National Guard units participating in African Lion include the Fort Benning-based Headquarters, 648th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade; the Cumming-based 420th Signal Company, 648th MEB; the Elberton-based 1st Battalion, 214th Field Artillery, 648th MEB; and the Forsyth-based 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment, 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. Soldiers from the Moroccan and Tunisian militaries will be attached to Georgia Army National Guard units during the exercise.

All Georgia Army National Guard units will train in Tantan, Morocco, throughout the exercise. Exercise tasks include operating a tactical command post, conducting situational training exercise lanes, conducting field training exercises and conducting indirect fire gunnery table qualification. The exercise culminates with a combined and joint live-fire exercise.

African Lion offers the opportunity to improve interoperability and cooperation while demonstrating the strong military bond that exists between the participating nations. It is designed to provide training for U.S., Moroccan, Tunisian, Senegalese, and other regionally-based African partnered forces while simultaneously reinforcing lessons learned from past African Lion exercises, and provides a foundation and structure for future military cooperation and engagements.

Last year’s African Lion exercise was canceled during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.

For this year’s exercise, planners have implemented safety measures to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spread and infection amongst U.S. personnel and partner nation forces. This includes mandatory quarantines and COVID-19 testing prior to travel, wearing of masks and social distancing during the exercise, and procedures to respond in the event a participant contracts COVID-19.

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Devil Raiders enable Exercise African Lion with critical airfield surveys

Air Mobility Command deployed two airfield survey teams from the 621st Contingency Response Wing to the Kingdom of Morocco April 17-27 to conduct airfield surveys in preparation for Exercise African Lion 21.

The team of Devil Raiders conducted surveys of five airfields at different locations across Morocco that will receive coalition forces aircraft and enable access to mobility platforms. Locations included an alternate landing site for a space shuttle and an international airport.

Exercise African Lion is U.S. Africa Command's most prominent annual exercise. It is scheduled for June 7-18 and will involve more than 7,000 international participants led by the U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa, in partnership with the Kingdom of Morocco, Tunisia, and Senegal.

The survey teams evaluate the existing infrastructure of an airfield and provide details necessary for determining if a site is suitable for a particular mission. Data considered includes base infrastructure, airfield geometrics, pavement strength and airfield obstacles.

"We evaluate everything necessary for a mission bed down, which helps mission planners know what conditions are like at the airfield and what it is they need to plan on bringing," said Capt. Jacob Pond, 621st Contingency Response Support Squadron support flight commander.

African Lion is designed to foster access and interoperability among partner nations and promote regional stability; both objectives directly support the National Defense Strategy.

"African Lion 21 will play a big role in strategic deterrence and strengthening allies," said Capt. Jack Robinson, 821st CRSS support flight commander. "By surveying multiple airfields in support of the exercise, we are directly enabling the exercise operations at these airfields and thus the overall strategic and partnership building objectives."

A typical airfield survey takes 3-5 working days to complete depending on the size, amount of data available and experience of the team.

"What is not included in those figures, though, is the time spent crunching numbers and writing reports afterward," Pond said. "That process can take a week or two, again depending on the complexity."

Airfield assessments generate two products: the Air Force Form 1174, Airfield Survey, and the Contingency Airfield Pavement Evaluation. The AF Form 1174 provides an overview of the airfield's capabilities, features and available support functions. The CAPE outlines the structural capacity of the airfield pavements.

As part of this tasking, air advisors with the 818th and 571st Mobility Support Advisory Squadron, who specialize in assisting partner nations with developing air mobility capabilities, went with the survey teams to provide host nation support.

"While we are on a mission, we focus on building partnerships,” said Tech. Sgt. William Russell, 818th MSAS air advisor. “That can mean many things, but really what it comes down to is maintaining a positive relationship with our partner nations and understanding that we are a guest in their house."

The air advisors used their French-speaking capabilities to overcome communication barriers and build relationships that they can utilize in the future.

"Morocco is the U.S.'s longest partner," Pond said. "This mission, along with any other partner building missions, helps our two countries to better understand each other and appreciate each other at the tactical and strategic levels. I have a much deeper appreciation for Morocco's role in the region than I did before, and I believe our time there increased their appreciation for our efforts."

African Lion 21 will be the 17th iteration of the exercise and the first that the 621st CRW has completed airfield surveys for.

"The friendliness of our Moroccan allies was definitely the key to the success of this mission," Pond said. "These were their airfields, so we couldn't have done anything if they didn't want us to. Our long-lasting and strong partnership was very evident throughout our whole time there."

Militaries from Tunisia, Senegal, the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, Netherlands and other countries will join the U.S. and host nation troops in the exercise.

Exercise African Lion 21 will include several smaller exercises–including an air exercise featuring Air Force Global Strike Command aircraft, F-16 Fighting Falcon, C-130J Super Hercules, and KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft, a joint forcible entry exercise with paratroopers, a chemical-biological response exercise and a humanitarian civic assistance program event.

The effort required months of collaboration between all participating countries to ensure proper COVID-19 mitigation protocols were in place for a successful execution.

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Georgia Guard completes port operations for African Lion 21

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Georgia Army National Guard completed port operations May 14 in Jacksonville, Florida, to deploy vehicles and equipment to Morocco for use in exercise African Lion 21.

“The most significant obstacle we faced would be configuring the vehicles for a load on load off the ship,” said U.S. Army 1st Lt. Isaac Osmer, the unit mobility officer of the 1st Battalion, 214th Field Artillery. “The configurations could not have happened without the hard work of all of the M-Day and full-time Soldiers within the unit.”

African Lion is U.S. Africa Command's largest and premier exercise, involving more than 7,000 service members from June 7-18. Led by the U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa, African Lion 21 will execute in three countries: the Kingdom of Morocco, Tunisia, and Senegal. Militaries from the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, and elsewhere will join U.S. and host nation troops. U.S. participants come from all service components, including the Reserve and National Guard.

More than 740 U.S. Army Soldiers from the Georgia Army National Guard will participate in African Lion 21.

The Georgia Army National Guard units participating in African Lion include the Fort Benning-based Headquarters, 648th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade; the Cumming-based 420th Signal Company, 648th MEB; the Elberton-based 1st Battalion, 214th Field Artillery, 648th MEB; and the Forsyth-based 2nd Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment, 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.

“The cross-level support between battalions outside of one another’s brigade has been critical,” said Osmer. “The ability of Georgia Army National Guard units to work together like this certainly displays our state’s readiness posture.”

Over 200 vehicles and storage containers will deploy with the Georgia Army National Guard Soldiers. This includes nine M109A6 Paladin howitzers, as well as the ammo carriers, wreckers and utility vehicles needed to keep the weapon systems operational.

The completion of port operations is a culmination of many months of diligent work.

Units began packing equipment and preparing vehicles at their assigned armories in January. Then, Soldiers transported the equipment to Fort Stewart, Georgia, to be loaded onto haulers. From them there, the cargo line-hauled to the Jacksonville port, where it was unloaded and staged to be put aboard the cargo ship.

African Lion offers the opportunity to improve interoperability and cooperation not just between participating nations but also among Department of Defense branches and combatant commands. For example, United States Transportation Command, United States Army Europe and Africa, and 841st Transportation Battalion all had some role in getting Georgia Guard gear from the peach state to Morocco.

“African Lion highlights our ability to be agile and adaptable within a limited amount of time,” said Osmer. “Teamwork has undoubtedly been the reoccurring theme for success at every level.”