The United Kingdom-led and -hosted Joint Warrior series is run by the Joint Tactical Exercise Planning Staff (JTEPS) from exercise headquarters aboard Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde in Faslane, Scotland. The exercise is designed to improve interoperability between allied and partner navies while preparing participants for a role in a joint maritime environment during deployments. In addition to Porter, the other U.S. Navy assets participating in the exercise were fleet replenishment oiler USNS Leroy Grumman (T-AO 195) and P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft from Patrol Squadron (VP) 45. Exercise Joint Warrior, a semi-annual training exercise conducted in the coastal waters off the United Kingdom, is designed to provide NATO and allied forces with the opportunity to train in a multinational, multiplatform, multi-warfare environment. The unique, fast-paced integrated training is conducted at sea as well as near and on land to enable participants to engage one another in complex training scenarios. The United Kingdom's advanced naval certification course, Joint Warrior is comprised of numerous scheduled training scenarios, including small boat attacks, boarding operations, air defense, antisubmarine warfare and ship maneuverability tasks. JW 16-2 included air, sea and ground assets from NATO and partner countries, including Belgium, Canada, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. Cmdr. Andria Slough, Porter's commanding officer, said Joint Warrior proved an exceptional opportunity to train with NATO allies and other partner nations throughout a myriad of warfare areas. "The operational proficiency of Porter has certainly increased, and the interoperability between the participating nations has definitely been enhanced by this challenging, large-scale exercise," Slough said. Petty Officer 2nd Class Christopher Powell said the highlight of the exercise was the ability to train in a complex environment alongside and up close with a variety of international participants. "The people who came out for this exercise got to work with not only live aircraft, but with small boats, submarines and warships, and they had the ability to fire actual weapons on a firing range," Powell said. "Overall, Joint Warrior was a success, and the crew is looking forward to future opportunities to participate." Porter, forward-deployed to Rota, Spain, conducts naval operations in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations in support of U.S. national security interests in Europe. For more information visit http://www.public.navy.mil/surflant/ddg78/Pages/default.aspx

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