NORFOLK, Va. – More than 25,000 Sailors and Marines across the globe participated in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps-led Large Scale Exercise (LSE) 2023, Aug. 9-18.

One of the largest exercises for the maritime services, LSE 2023 is a live, virtual and constructive, globally-integrated exercise designed to refine the synchronization of maritime operations.

During a media roundtable, the commanders of U.S. Fleet Forces Command, U.S. Pacific Fleet, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa, and Marine Forces Command highlighted LSE 2023 as the leading exercise in how the Navy and Marine Corps further improves their ability to fight on land, air, sea, space, and cyberspace in order to maintain a military force that is most effective in peacetime and more powerful in war.

"We have a responsibility and a duty to be able to respond globally to threats and vulnerabilities to peer adversaries and competitors,” said Adm. Daryl Caudle, commander U. S. Fleet Forces Command. “And the way you get great at that is to practice with exercises like LSE 2023."

LSE 2023 spanned 22 time zones and included participants from U.S. Fleet Forces Command, U.S. Pacific Fleet, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa Command, Marine Forces Command, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Pacific, and seven U.S. numbered Fleets: Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Tenth.

The integration of fleet operations with emerging technologies played a key role in refining and validating Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO) capabilities.

“The United States is a global power that has global interests. We have allies and partners around the world. We routinely sail, fly, and operate in international spaces,” said Adm. Stuart Munsch, commander, U.S. Naval Forces, Europe and Africa. “You put that all together, and we have a responsibility to be able to operate globally, effectively, and that's what we're doing. We demonstrate that to assure our allies and partners, and we demonstrate it to deter adversaries.”
LSE 2023 reinforced a culture of learning and increased warfighting readiness by merging real-world operations with virtually constructed scenarios to create a realistic training environment that allowed Sailors and Marines to train the way we fight, regardless of geographic boundaries.

“This is an exercise where we can bring all of our experiences together and learn from each other,” said Lt. Gen. Brian Cavanaugh, commander, Marine Forces Command. “I've learned a tremendous amount from Admirals Caudle, Paparo, and Munsch, as well as General Jurney and General Sofge, and you don't get that until you come together and do an exercise like this. The challenges we encountered during LSE 23 only help us in our continuum of learning - from the tactical unit, up through the highest levels of decision making.”

LSE 2023 incorporated live units underway ranging from aircraft carriers to submarines, shore logistic support units, and more than 30 virtual units. This included pier-side participation from ships as well as training facilities and staff headquarters from around the world.

From the strategic level with combatant commanders down to the hands-on training on the tactical level, this exercise encompassed a wide range of training for the Navy and Marine Corps.

“We are a global, responsive Navy operating dynamically within the joint force, ready to respond to threats against our nation,” said Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet. “Our competitors are increasingly cooperating and operating further afield. This underscores the importance of exercises like LSE to hone our ability to find, track and monitor potential threats and coordinate globally.”

The U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps will incorporate lessons learned from LSE 2023 into the planning of its next large scale exercise iteration which will take place in 2025.

To read the full transcript from the media roundtable with LSE 2023 commanders visit: https://www.usff.navy.mil/Press-Room/Press-Releases/Article/3498119/large-scale-exercise-2023-commanders-interview-transcript/