Sailors assigned to aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73), Carrier Strike Group NINE (CSG 9), Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 23 to include USS Chafee (DDG 90) and USS McFaul (DDG 74) and embarked Carrier Air Wing TWO (CVW 2) began UNITAS Atlantic (LANT) Nov. 14, a multinational exercise in the USSOUTHCOM region.

UNITAS LANT is scheduled for Nov. 14-25. Brazil will host the exercise with participation from Cameroon, Chile, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, United Kingdom and United States.

"UNITAS demonstrates the strength of our relationships with partner nations and our continued commitment to the South America region," said Rear Adm. Lisa Franchetti, commander, CSG 9. "This exercise provides unique training opportunities between George Washington Strike Group and 11 partner navies that enhance interoperability and allow our personnel to gain experience in a multinational task force training environment."

While the overarching goal is to develop and test command and control of forces at sea, training in this exercise will address the spectrum of maritime operations. Specifically, there will be scenarios addressing electronic warfare, anti-air warfare and air defense, anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare and maritime interdiction operations, and joint exercises with the Brazilian Air Force.

"Another component of UNITAS LANT, a bi-lateral exercise between CVW 2 and the Brazilian Air Force, will increase tactical procedures and voice/data communications interoperability and provides a venue to develop and standardize tactics, techniques and procedures (TTP) to support multinational maritime engagement," said Lt. Dave Gardner, the operations officer of Destroyer Squadron 23.

Washington is deployed as part of Southern Seas 2015 which seeks to enhance interoperability, increase regional stability and build and maintain relationships with countries throughout the region through joint, multinational and interagency exchanges and cooperation.


For more news from USS George Washington (CVN 73), visit www.navy.mil/.