U.S. Army Southern European Task Force on Thursday said it will hold the annual African Lion exercise, involving more than 7,500 service members.
Led by the U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa, African Lion 22 will execute in four countries: Morocco, Ghana, Senegal and Tunisia.
Militaries from Brazil, Chad, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom will join U.S. and host nation troops. U.S. participants come from all service components, including the Reserves and National Guard.
African Lion 22 features a joint task force command post exercise, a combined arms live fire exercise, a maritime exercise, an air exercise including bomber aircraft, a joint forcible entry with paratroopers into a field training exercise, a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear response exercise, and a humanitarian civic assistance program event.
The exercise bolsters interoperability among partner nations and supports U.S. military strategic readiness to respond to crises and contingencies in Africa and around the world.
The exercise involved months of collaboration between all participating countries to ensure proper COVID-19 mitigation.
Southern European Task Force, Africa, will establish the exercise’s combined joint task force headquarters, integrating AFRICOM components and international partners to solve a complex, trans-regional crisis.
U.S. participants come from all service components, including the Reserves and National Guard.
This effort involves strengthening our shared defense capabilities to counter transnational threats and violent extremist organizations, which is in the common good of the U.S. and African partner nations.