EFES-2022 Exercise Begins With The Widest International Participation
The Exercise is hosted by Turkiye, under the management and administration of the Aegean Army Command, with the participation of friendly and allied country elements.
EFES-2022 will also be an organization where Turkiye's national defence technologies and products and future technologies will be showcased. In the Exercise, products that have entered or are planned to enter the TAF inventory will also be used.
EFES-2022 will include integrated aviation, amphibious landings, bilateral artillery and light armoured reconnaissance live-fire training within a generic scenario. Targets will be hit by ground fire support vehicles, warplanes, armed UAVs and attack helicopters. In EFES-2022, where Special Forces Operations will also be performed, ship-to-target manoeuvring, airlift, combat search and rescue, and combat in the residential area will also be exhibited.
More than a thousand foreign personnel from 37 countries will participate in the Exercise in 2022. It is planned that more than 10 thousand personnel, together with TAF elements, will participate in the EFES-2022 Exercise, which is the largest joint Exercise in the region.
Some participants are Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, France, Italy, North Macedonia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, and the USA.,
The USA is participating in the EFES Exercise
for the first time since 2016. San Antonio-class dock landing ship USS
Arlington (LPD 24) and 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) were transferred to
İzmir for this purpose.
French paratroopers were seen in the exercise preparation video shared by the Turkish Defence Ministry (MSB).
Defence ministers, chiefs of staff and force commanders from more than 20 countries are expected to follow the Exercise's Distinguished Observer Day activities.
The Defence Industry Days exhibition will be
held on the exact dates and the Exercise. More than 40 defence industry
companies will exhibit their products at booths.
FNSS's Marine Assult Vehicle (MAV- called ZAHA in Turkish) will be among the products exhibited for the first time in the static area. The expectation for MAV to showcase its landing capability was high within the industry. This expectation will be met by the vehicles that will enter the sea from TCG-Anatolia in the Exercise that will take place two years later.
The Aegean Army is an independent army that Turkiye established to respond to Greece leaving NATO following the Cyprus Peace Operation conducted in 1974.
