High North NATO ASW Exercise Dynamic Mongoose Under Way

The ships of nine NATO nations are honing their anti-submarine warfare (ASW) skills on Exercise Dynamic Mongoose 25 in the waters off Iceland.

As per a recent press statement, the exercise is being led by Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM), the central command of all NATO maritime forces and is being hosted by the Icelandic Coast Guard.

As well as the host nation and the U.K., the other countries with assets participating are Canada, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and the United States.

The exercise is running throughout late April, and includes both naval and air assets. It seeks to enhance NATO forces’ undersea warfare capabilities and strengthen transatlantic cooperation. Dynamic Mongoose combines ASW and anti-surface warfare ASuW drills, training submarine crews to evade and respond, and surface vessels and air assets to detect and react to submarine threats.

Dynamic Mongoose is being conducted in the expanse of water known as the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom-Norway (GIUK-N) Gap. 

Royal Navy Captain Sam McAllister, Assistant Chief of Staff, Submarines at MARCOM commented: “Dynamic Mongoose is an extremely important anti-submarine exercise in the High North which provides an excellent opportunity for NATO Allied nations to train together and build upon our already impressive interoperable capabilities.” 

He added: “The GIUK gap is a critical maritime crossroad that NATO Allied Maritime Command will exercise in to ensure freedom of action in the region whilst maintaining our levels of readiness and sustaining values-based security across the seas.”

Ships of NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1) are taking part; its commander Commodore Arjen S. Warnaar commented: “Dynamic Mongoose 2025 is a very beneficial exercise for Standing NATO Maritime Group 1… It brings a varied array of NATO ASW capabilities together, and it does that in the crucial GIUK-N gap, where NATO requires an effective counter to the submarine threat.”

• You can read more details on the MARCOM website