Nautical Defender is a weeklong maritime exercise designed to build and sustain combined warfighting capabilities, support long-term regional security and enhance military-to-military interoperability between the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

"Nautical Defender is an excellent opportunity to strengthen tactical proficiency and to support long-term relationships with our Saudi counterparts," said U.S. Navy Capt. Brian Reitter, commander of Task Force 56. "This type of comprehensive exercise enables us to pool our resources with the Royal Saudi Naval Forces to create a truly challenging and realistic training environment."

This year’s exercise integrated unmanned systems and focused on maritime security, explosive ordnance disposal, mine countermeasures and other drills ashore and at sea.

The U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations encompasses nearly 2.5 million square miles of water area and includes the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Red Sea, parts of the Indian Ocean and three critical choke points at the Strait of Hormuz, Suez Canal and Bab al-Mandeb.