Naval training this month (February) in the Indian Ocean, Arabian and Red seas as well as the Gulf of Aden underline the importance of keeping piracy in check and allowing safe passage of ships, crews and cargo around Africa.
The start of the month saw Seychelles host the 13th iteration of Exercise Cutlass Express, under the Africom (US Africa Command) banner and enabled by the US Navy (USN) Sixth fleet. To the north, the now two-year-old European Union (EU) tasking Operation Aspides sharpened its defensive skills with regular day-to-day- training to protect shipping.
Seychelles Defence Forces (SDF) reports the multinational maritime exercise Cutlass Express, which ran from 2 to 12 February, saw regional security professional and partner nations from further afield reinforce a shared commitment to safeguarding the wider maritime domain.
Southern African Development Community (SADC) member Seychelles is a small island nation with a vast exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and is steadfast in its responsibility to protect its waters and maritime resources. The exercise saw participating forces engage in intensive training to strengthen operational readiness, enhance co-ordination and improve collective maritime security capabilities.
The host nation’s defence forces said its maritime domain awareness capabilities were raised by Cutlass Express with information sharing mechanisms among regional partners also upped. Co-ordinated interdiction and boarding operations were conducted to a high operational standard, demonstrating professionalism, discipline and interoperability among participating forces.
A notable milestone of this year’s Cutlass Express was a successful integration of unmanned surface systems (USSs) into operational scenarios. This marked “a significant step forward” in modernising maritime security operations and adapting to evolving maritime threats according to SDF.
Among the technologies utilized was Lightfish a 12-foot, solar-powered unmanned surface vehicle — an interceptor drone — with a modular payload designed for long-endurance missions. The US Navy launched it from a Seychelles Coast Guard ship during the exercise.
“We are making history at Cutlass Express 2026 by demonstrating our enhanced warfighting skills through our robotic and unmanned capabilities alongside our maritime partners,” said Lieutenant Bryna Loranger, operations officer of the US Navy 6th Fleet’s Commander Task Force 66.
Participants also trained on the SmartMast and SeaVision platforms, which enable small patrol craft to detect and report potential maritime crimes and quickly convey that information to national and regional maritime operations centres (MOCs) that coordinate real-time information sharing across national boundaries. This helps partner nations build the situational awareness needed to identify traffickers, disrupt criminal networks and combat illegal fishing.
SmartMast includes a maritime situational awareness network for vessel tracking; a multifunctional, solar-powered lighting unit; and a portable telescopic mast for defence and surveillance.
SeaVision lets users track commercial vessels globally with data from automatic identification system transponders. It helps countries share maritime information and intelligence, improve operations, and detect vessels not transmitting a transponder signal, which often is a sign of illegal activity.
Exercise Cutlass Express 2026 brought together about 500 personnel from 19 nations, including Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, France, Georgia, India, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Senegal, Somalia, Tanzania, Tunisia and the United Kingdom. The central theme focused on the use of practical, adaptable technologies that enhance awareness in remote maritime regions.
Other activities included advanced visit, board, search and seizure drills; command post information‑sharing scenarios that replicate real‑world operations; and medical training.
The maritime component of Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) also participated in Cutlass Express with an additional tasking of using it to prepare junior officers in training by way of at sea evolutions. The at sea training reinforces theoretical and simulation-based Kenya Naval College instruction. Known as Exercise Jitegemee (Swahili for “sustain yourself”), the transit to and from Cutlass Express added to training evolutions with other navies, this year’s was the 27th Jitegemee for the Kenya Navy.
Written by contribution from Africa Defense Forum. The original article can be found here.
