“ADRION 14” – Joint Operation in the Adriatic Sea
An Exercise Demonstration featuring administering first aid to a crew member and medical evaluation, staged for the attention of the Distinguished Visitors in the Kaštela aquatorium on 12 June, concluded the naval “ADRION 14 LIVEX” conducted in the central Adriatic from 9 to 13 June 2014.
The international “ADRION 14 LIVEX” is the annual naval multilateral exercise conducted to enhance the interoperability of the ADRION Navies related to maritime operations, search-and-rescue at sea, force protection, naval manoeuvering and communications, maritime interdiction and the multinational Maritime Security Operations planning and conduct.
The Exercise has marked the development of the ADRION initiative – a highly important regional co-operation initiative and mutual trust of the nations bordering the Adriatic and the Ionian Sea respectively. The participating nations thus included Albania, Montenegro, Greece, Italy, Croatia and Slovenia, with a total of ten vessels (five Croatian and the rest of the participants deployed one vessel each. Croatian Air Force and Air Defence deployed a PC-9 airplane and a Mi-8MTV1 helicopter, and the Croatian Special Operations Battalion members participated too. Montenegrin Navy designated two officers to the Exercise Staff. The Exercise Commander was Navy Captain Milenko Crljen, Deputy Commander of the Croatian Navy Training Centre.
The Croatian Navy Commander, Commodore Robert Hranj commended the Exercise as another opportunity for the Navies of the Adriatic Ionian Initiative to evince high-level professionalism and interoperability in naval operations., and informed that judging by the first analyses the Adrion Livex 14 entirely fulfilled the set goals and proved that the Navies of the region are committed to strengthening the mutual trust and readiness to deal with the peacetime challenges to security and stability of the Adriatic and Ionian region.
He extended appreciation to all the participants for having demonstrated responsible and professional commitment to the assigned task, and particularly to the Exercise Commander and the Staff, composed of Croatian officers and the representatives of the participating Navies.
Captain Milenko Crljen rated the Exercise successful too and stressed the visible progress with regard to interoperability and development of capability for common naval operations aimed at countering maritime crime compared to the Exercise held under his command in 2008. «Most maritime countries lacking the capabilities to autonomously conduct the operations of the kind, the initiatives such as ADRION are of vital importance, strengthening the regional military co-operation of the Navies and ensuring better control over the maritime traffic in the Adriatic and Ionian Sea, in compliance with the NATO’s Connected Forces Initiative», concluded Captain Crljen.
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