BUCHAREST, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Romania announced Wednesday to organize between March 19 and March 29 "Sea Shield 21" in the Black Sea, the largest and most complex NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) multinational naval exercise hosted by its navy this year.
Over 2,400 troops, 18 warships and 10 aircraft from eight states will participate in the 10-day exercise, the General Staff of the Naval Forces stated in a press release.
The participating countries include Bulgaria, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, Turkey and United States, while NATO's Allied Maritime Command participates with its permanent naval group SNMG-2, a standing maritime immediate reaction force with seven ships at this moment, including the "Queen Mary" frigate of Romania.
The main objective of the multinational exercise is to verify and strengthen the level of interoperability and cooperation between the Romanian military forces and other NATO forces.
The first edition of "Sea Shield" multinational exercise took place in 2015, and its scenarios were adapted in the following years to strengthen security measures on the southeastern European side, the release said. Enditem
