Rabat – The US’ Georgia Army National Guard has announced its participation in the annual US-Morocco joint military exercise known as African Lion, due to take place in June.
According to a press release from the Georgia Army National Guard, more that 700 troops will travel to North Africa to participate in the US-Morocco joint military exercises held under the African Lion 21 name.
African Lion is the largest military exercise in Africa. The US will send approximately 4,000 service members, of which 740 will be Georgia Guard troops, while approximately 5,000 members from Royal Moroccan Armed Forces, the Tunisian Armed Forces, Senegalese Armed Forces, as well from Italy, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, will participate.
This year African Lion exercises will include “operating a tactical command post, conducting situational training exercise lanes, conducting field training exercises and conducting indirect fire gunnery table qualification,” which will culminate in “a combined and joint live-fire exercise,” said the press release.
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The Georgia Guard underlined that “African Lion offers the opportunity to improve interoperability and cooperation while demonstrating the strong military bond that exists between the participating nations.”
The African Lion exercise is designed to provide training for US, Moroccan, Tunisian, Senegalese, and “other regionally-based African partnered forces.” It will also reinforce the knowledge learned from previous African Lion exercises, while providing both a foundation and a structure for future military cooperation in the region and beyond.
Major General Andrew M. Rohling, Deputy Commanding General for Africa and US Army Southern European Task Force-Africa Commander, previously said that the military exercise was “a great opportunity to strengthen one of the oldest strategic relationships of the United States,” speaking of Morocco.
From 2003, the maneuvers had run uninterrupted until in 2020 the annual exercise was reduced in scale “to minimize exposure of US and partner nation service members to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).”
