The multinational naval exercise Will for Peace starts in South African territorial waters on Friday 9 January using an as yet unidentified SA Navy (SAN) base as operational headquarters with minimal information forthcoming from SA National Defence Force (SANDF) communication personnel.
The exercise was confirmed by an SANDF Joint Operations Division statement issued on 30 December. It, in part, noted the People’s Republic of China (PRC) will lead the joint, inter-agency, inter-departmental, multinational exercise.
“Exercise Will for Peace 2026 brings together navies from BRICS Plus countries for an intensive programme of joint maritime safety operations, interoperability drills and maritime protection serials”, read the statement, signed off by Brigadier General Nditsheni Singo, Acting General Officer Commanding (GOC) Joint Operational Headquarters and Lieutenant Colonel Mpho Mathebula, the division’s Acting Senior Staff Officer (SSO) Operational Communication.
Further details, according to the statement, will be “communicated through subsequent communication”. This publication approached the SANDF Directorate Corporate Communication (DCC) for more details on the exercise and was informed “relevant information” regarding Will for Peace will be released at “an appropriate time”.
New DCC Director Brigadier General Selinah Rawlins states further “all activities connected to the exercise will be conducted strictly in line with agreed operational plans” adding no participating personnel numbers will be released and ships involved in Will for Peace will not be open to the public before or after the exercise. “Updates,” DefenceWeb was told, “will be shared once clearance is granted”.
In addition to PLAN (People’s Liberation Army Navy) platforms, naval assets from the Russian Federation Navy and the Iranian Navy, in the form of the Middle Eastern country’s 103rd flotilla, have been sighted en route to the southern tip of Africa for the exercise.
There was, as of today (Monday, 5 January) no indication from DCC on which – if any – SAN platforms will take part or whether SAN fleet headquarters in Simon’s Town or Naval Base (NB) Durban will be Will for Peace operational headquarters.
China has sent its Type 052DL guided-missile destroyer Tangshan, and its Type 903A replenishment ship Taihu to take part in the exercise. The two vessels – which are part of China’s naval escort taskforce in the Gulf of Aden – stopped in Mombasa, Kenya on 24 December for maintenance before continuing south.
Russia is contributing the Steregushchiy Class corvette Stoykiy with a Ka-27PL ASW helicopter on board, and its escorting Altay Class oiler Yelnya. Theu arrived in Pointe-Noire, in the Republic of the Congo, on 21 December, and Walvis Bay, Namibia, on 31 December. After participating in Exercise Will for Peace 2026, the Russian vessels will make calls in Tanzania, Guinea, and Mozambique.
Chris Hattingh, Democratic Alliance (DA) Spokesperson on Defence and Military Veterans, said Parliament has not been properly briefed on the Will for Peace exercise, its costs, its command structure, its legal status, or its diplomatic consequences. “That is unacceptable. These decisions affect South Africa’s foreign relations, trade, security, and reputation — and they cannot be made behind closed doors. The SANDF exists to defend South Africa and its people, not to provide a platform for global power politics,” he said.
The DA will therefore request a full parliamentary briefing on Exercise Will For Peace 2026, including its objectives, participants, leadership, costs, and implications.
African Defence Review Director Darren Olivier told The Daily Maverick that Will for Peace is a BRICS exercise in name only. “There’s no mechanism within BRICS to plan, organise or execute a military exercise. Calling it a ‘BRICS’ exercise makes about as much sense as having a ‘G7’ or ‘G20’ exercise. South Africa may be attempting to make the exercise appear to be more legitimate by casting it as a BRICS exercise, but this has not been organised by BRICS.”
“This is not smart geopolitics from South Africa, which should be looking to avoid being seen to be too closely linked with Iran, Russia and China militarily, but to rather have a broader set of partners. That should include doubling down and reinforcing its existing military agreements and exercises with India and Brazil, including the Ibsamar maritime exercise, which is both far more useful than Exercise Mosi for South Africa and with two fellow BRICS members.”
Neither India nor Brazil appear to be joining Exercise Will for Peace 2026 despite it ostensibly being a BRICS exercise.
