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Response force hones capability in air-ground integration exercise
A Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey carries Army paratroopers during a North and West Africa Response Force air-ground integration exercise at Aviano Air Base, Italy, Dec. 7, 2021. Soldiers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade trained with Marine aviators of the Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron - 365 in the exercise to hone the NARF's crisis response.
Photo by: Tech. Sgt. Michael Cossaboom
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IKE Strike Group operates with Morocco in Lightning Handshake
The Royal Moroccan Air Force (RMAF) and aircraft assigned to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 3 fly over the Nimitz-Class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) in the Atlantic Ocean, March 3, 2021. The IKE Carrier Strike Group is participating in Lightning Handshake, a bi-lateral exercise between the U.S. and the Royal Moroccan Navy (RMN) and Royal Moroccan Air Force (RMAF).
Photo by: Cmdr. Jared Strout
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U.S. Airmen begin African Lion humanitarian efforts
U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Kimberly Hegeman, a nurse with the 151st Medical Group, gives a sticker to a child visiting the pediatric section of the military field hospital on June 7, 2021 in Tafraoute, Morocco during African Lion 2021. African Lion 2021 is U.S. Africa Command’s largest, premier, joint, annual exercise hosted by Morocco, Tunisia, and Senegal, 7-18 June. More than 7,000 participants from nine nations and NATO train together with a focus on enhancing readiness for U.S. and partner nation forces. AL21 is multi-domain, null-component, and multinational exercise, which employs a full array of mission capabilities with the goal to strengthen interoperability among participants. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Annie Edwards).
Photo by: Tech. Sgt. Annie Edwards
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U.S., Ivoirian special operations forces sharpen skills to counter violent extremists
U.S. and Côte d'Ivoirian special operations forces conduct joint combined exchange training in Côte d'Ivoire July 5, 2021. The teams focused on honing basic skills such as close quarters combat, first aid, mission planning and jungle warfare.
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U.S. Africa Command leadership visits Nigeria
U.S. Army Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander, U.S. Africa Command, wrapped up a three-day West African visit Feb. 22-25 with a stop in Nigeria yesterday to meet with the nation’s leaders and further the long-standing partnership and security cooperation between the two nations. As part of the visit, Townsend participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Nigeria Military National Cemetery to honor those who have given their lives in the service of their nation. During the visit, the delegation expressed their condolences for the seven service members killed in the crash of a Nigerian Air Force aircraft in Abuja earlier this week.
Photo by: Olaoluwa Aworinde
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AFRICOM commander, Homeland Security Advisor conclude visit to Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Niger
U.S. Army Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander, U.S. Africa Command, and Dr. Liz Sherwood-Randall, assistant to the President for Homeland Security, learn about the air traffic capabilities from Lt. Col. John Lodes, aerial operations battalion commander, 475th Expeditionary Air Base Squadron, at Camp Simba in Manda Bay, Kenya, Oct. 27, 2021. Camp Simba was one of several stops on a trip throughout East Africa that provided Sherwood-Randall a first-hand perspective of the complex security environment in Africa as well as U.S. Africa Command’s counter-terrorism missions across the continent.
Photo by: Senior Airman Andrew Kobialka
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Enlisted conference draws senior leaders on three continents to develop forces
U.S. Africa Command hosted a virtual Africa Senior Enlisted Conference on July 15, 2021, bringing together the top enlisted leaders from 20 African nations, U.S. National Guard state partners, and U.S. Africa and European Commands to discuss the development and education of enlisted leaders.
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CJTF-HOA hosts inaugural Women in Security Symposium in Djibouti
Women serving with Armed Forces Djibouti, Gendamerie, Republican Guard, National Police and Djiboutian Coast Guard join U.S., Japanese, Italian, Spanish and Kenyan leaders for the inaugural Women in Security Symposium in Djibouti City, Djibouti, Sept. 22, 2021. The symposium focused on the incorporation of a gender perspective into peace and security, and helped promote the empowerment of women in achieving security.
Photo by: Staff Sgt. Lisa Crawford
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U.S.-made A-29 Super Tucano aircraft officially inducted into Nigerian Air Force
U.S. Department of Defense leaders attended the A-29 Super Tucano induction ceremony, hosted by Nigerian Minister of Defence Bashir Salihi Magashi and the Nigerian Air Force, here Aug. 31. The aircraft will assist the Nigerian Air Force in their fight against violent extremist organizations including the Islamic State West Africa Province.
Photo by: U.S. Embassy in Nigeria
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First Moroccan attends Swiss NCO course
Students discuss the five conflict-handling modes during Switzerland’s International Senior Non-Commissioned Officer Leadership Course, October 13, 2021, in Gossau, Switzerland. The leadership course consisted of many different exercises for multi-national SNCO’s to participate in order to further develop and improve their leadership skills. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Autumn Vogt)
Photo by: Senior Airman Autumn Vogt
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Task Force mission over Djibouti highlights partnership and commitment
A U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer from the 9th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, flies a Bomber Task Force mission alongside two U.K. and two U.S. F-35 Lightning IIs from U.K. Carrier Strike Group's HMS Queen Elizabeth over Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, Nov. 11, 2021. The mission represented the international participants' collective commitment to stability and security in the Horn of Africa, highlighted Djibouti as a leading security partner in the region, and exercised U.S. ability to operate in and through a variety of airspaces.
Photo by: Tech. Sgt. Michael Cossaboom
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Gen. Townsend visits Mozambique, South Africa, Botswana
to advance mutual security interests
U.S. Army General Stephen Townsend, commander, U.S. Africa Command, arrives in South Africa on Nov. 18 as part of a multi-country trip to the Southern Africa region from Nov. 17-23. “South Africa is a key partner of U.S. Africa Command and a regional leader whose contributions to regional security advance our mutual interests for a stable, secure and prosperous Africa,” Townsend said.
Photo by: U.S. Embassy in South Africa
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Obangame Express 21 Exercise
Service members from the Ghanaian special forces provide cover while approaching a vessel during a boarding exercise as part of Obangame Express 2021, March 17, 2021. Obangame Express, conducted by U.S. Naval Forces Africa, is an at-sea maritime exercise designed to improve cooperation among participating nations in order to increase maritime safety and security in the Gulf of Guinea and West Africa coastal regions.
Photo by: Petty Officer 1st Class Fred Gra
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African Lion 21
A U.S. Army M109A6 Paladin howitzer with the Ellenwood-based Charlie Battery, 1st Battalion, 214th Field Artillery, 648th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, Georgia Army National Guard, observes fired artillery observation rounds during African Lion 2021, at the Tan Tan Training Area, Morocco, June 13, 2021. African Lion is U.S. Africa Command’s largest, premier, joint, annual exercise hosted by Morocco, Tunisia and Senegal, 7-18 June. More than 7,000 participants from nine nations and NATO train together with a focus on enhancing readiness for U.S. and partner nation forces. AL21 is a multi-domain, multi-component, and multi-national exercise, which employs a full array of mission capabilities with the goal to strengthen interoperability among participants.
Photo by: Sgt. 1st Class R.J. Lannom
In 2021, U.S. Africa Command, with partners, strengthened relationships in Africa through sustained and effective engagement to advance a shared vision for regional security, stability and prosperity in Africa. We realize this vision through a whole-of-government, partner-centric lens to build partner capacity, disrupt violent extremists, and respond to crises.
Achieving our missions through partnerships
Partnerships, based on shared values, drive everything U.S. Africa Command does. Through consistent engagement, we strengthen our partnerships and assure our allies. Only together can we realize security goals vital for global interests and free trade.
In 2021, U.S. Army Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander, U.S. Africa Command, conducted multiple trips to meet with leaders in 20 countries to advance strategic partnerships. Joined by members of his staff including U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Richard Thresher, command senior enlisted leader, and Ambassador Andrew Young, deputy to the commander for civil-military engagement, Townsend’s visits built on security cooperation efforts underway and set the stage for future engagement.
In November, Townsend met with leaders in Mozambique, South Africa and Botswana during a three-country trip to the region. At each location, Thresher engaged with partner-nation enlisted leaders and U.S. Embassy personnel to advance the Africa Enlisted Development Strategy and to find new ways to help develop and refine enlisted academic centers.
Throughout the year, the naval component for U.S. Africa Command, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa, coordinated dozens of port visits for the USS Hershel “Woody” Williams and her crew including a circumnavigation of Africa during the summer and fall to further maritime partnerships to counter illicit activity in the worlds’ seas.
In addition to hosting the African Air Chiefs Symposium, supporting expansive logistics efforts throughout Europe and Africa, and assisting in the development of partner-nation flying crews, U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa hosted the African Partner Outbreak Response Alliance conference to collaborate on the essential skills to prevent, detect and respond to emerging infectious disease. During the tenth iteration of APORA, held in April, leaders from the U.S. and 17 African countries discussed implementing rapid response teams to improve public health and deliver aid during the coronavirus pandemic.
In addition to supporting U.S. Africa Command response forces, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa continued training alongside our African partners, including a long-standing Humanitarian Mine Action program with Royal Moroccan Armed Forces.
Personnel with Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa spent 2021 training alongside Djiboutian and French partners, supporting a wide array of U.S. Africa Command activities, and hosting outreach events in local communities to implement Women, Peace & Security efforts and build relationships around CJTF-HOA’s headquarters at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti.
In 2021, U.S. Army Southern European Task Force Africa executed African Lion, U.S. Africa Command’s premier joint annual exercise held in Morocco, Tunisia and Senegal. Additionally the task force supported crisis-response training events, planned additional multinational exercises, and trained and engaged with a multitude of partners in Africa.
Through this integrated effort, U.S. Africa Command remains well positioned to continue supporting our partners in Africa.
Disrupting violent extremist organization threats
Our activities to counter violent extremist organizations in Africa include facilitating training events that directly support and prepare our partners in the fight against VEOs, and working with interagency partners to curtail the root causes of instability that allow VEOs to carry out their deadly agendas.
In 2021, African Lion brought together more than 7,000 participants from nine nations and NATO to strengthen collective efforts toward enhancing security and stability throughout the region.
“This exercise is all about readiness. Readiness of our partners, and readiness of our forces,” Townsend said in a news release announcing the beginning of the exercise June 7. “It brings together various ideas, experiences, and capabilities – ultimately making us stronger partners and a more capable multi-national force.”
U.S. Special Operations Command Africa participated in dozens of training events with partner militaries across Africa. Through Joint Combined Exchange Training in Mauritania, Morocco and Côte d'Ivoire, among others, SOCAF continued enhancing the readiness of U.S. and partner forces while improving interoperability between nations.
In the maritime realm, forces from 15 East African, European, North America and West Indian Ocean nations participated in the annual Cutlass Express series aimed at maritime cooperation to improve law enforcement capacity and promote regional security in East Africa. Through additional exercises, such as Phoenix Express, and continued engagement year-round our combined efforts with international and African partners promote free trade in African waters.
In 2021 U.S. Africa Command conducted 9 airstrikes, each in coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, to disrupt and degrade al-Shabaab in Somalia and assist our partners to secure their own territory and neutralize the terror threat.
Responding to and preparing for crises
Safeguarding U.S. personnel and property, to remain positioned and ready to respond to emerging issues in Africa, is a top priority. Interagency coordination, effective response forces, and posture are keys to success.
U.S. Africa Command flexed its crises response capabilities in November through the Warfighter Recovery Network, which conducted a multi-day rescue of a U.K. civilian mariner at sea. The mission of rescuing injured personnel in the U.S. Africa Command area of operations is exceptionally complex due to the geographically wide distribution of forces – however, the network proved its capability by executing the rescue using multiple aircraft and partner facilities.
U.S. Africa Command also regularly exercises the ability of response forces to move long distances on short notice. One test occurred in March, when command forces stationed in Djibouti conducted an operational and logistics assessment in Mali. During the exercise, troops moved more than 2,900 miles across Africa.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Africa Command has coordinated with U.S. Embassies in Africa to provide humanitarian aid to our partners also fighting the global pandemic. In addition to supplies for communities and healthcare workers, this support often came in the form of state-of-the-art field hospitals to provide additional capacity to treat sick patients or serve as overflow for overburdened hospitals. The latest donation came this fall, when the Algerian health officials accepted the donation of the negative-pressure isolation system specifically designed to treat patients with infectious diseases.
Coordinating action with allies and partners
We coordinate our activities with allies and partners to maintain a joint, multinational and interagency presence that works to achieve our shared objectives. Allies and partners are critical to realizing our vision of a stable, secure and prosperous Africa while enabling contingency operations, maintaining superiority over competitors, monitoring and disrupting violent extremist organizations, and protecting U.S. interests.
One approach to realize this priority is through the Women, Peace and Security initiative, which provides a venue to engage with local communities to prevent, mitigate and resolve conflict by increasing women’s participation in security and peacekeeping. Through these engagements, including a WPS event held in Djibouti to facilitate participation of women within the security sector, we leverage the contributions and perspectives of both men and women to establish professional standards, build relationships, and gain local insight and knowledge.
U.S. Africa Command’s African Enlisted Development Strategy aims to standardize existing African professional military education institutions that can train not only their own nation’s forces but also those of neighboring countries and create or improve regional centers of excellence.
In October Master Sgt. Muhammed Lazaar became the first Moroccan Armed Forces non-commissioned officer to attend the Swiss International NCO course, which focused on NCO development and leadership training in a multinational environment.
“I would like to stress the friendship relations born from this interaction – enabling, enhancing and deepening bilateral and multilateral cooperation between nations,” Lazaar said.
Further showing U.S. Africa Command’s commitment and ability to coordinate with partner nations to ensure regional stability, multiple aircraft from the U.S., France, U.K. and Japan participated in a Bomber Task Force mission over Djiobuti in November. After flying more than 7,000 nautical miles to reach Djibouti, aircrews operating the U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancers from the 9th Bomb Wing, Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, worked with U.S. and French joint terminal attack controllers to provide simulated close air support at Djibouti’s Grand Bara Range.
U.S. Africa Command support to partners also comes in the form of donated equipment and training as part of the Foreign Military Sales program that provides ‘total package support.’ This philosophy, which included the turnover of A-29 Super Tucano in Nigeria and C-130 support in Niger to enhance those countries’ ability to counter violent extremist organizations, ensures operators and maintainers have the equipment and knowledge to utilize the aircraft as part of a long-term strategy.
U.S. Africa Command also capitalizes on the strength of the State Partnership Program, which facilitates cooperation among the U.S. National Guard and African countries to build partnerships that enhance global security. In September, during one of many engagements among the 15 state partnerships, an Indiana National Guard mobile training team conducted a two-week knowledge exchange In Niger to bolster Forces Armees Nigeriennes vehicle mechanics maintaining the MAMBA Armored Personnel Carrier.
