The frigate Victoria and the DAT Orion, deployed in EUNAVFOR Atalanta, participate in the Bull Shark 2025 exercise.

• Led by the U.S. Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, the multinational training has the participation of military units from Djibouti

The Bull Shark exercise, led by the Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA), ends in Djibouti, with the participation of the frigate Victoria and the Orion Tactical Air Detachment (DAT). Both were part of Operation EUNAVFOR Atalanta, led by Spain from its Operational Headquarters in Rota.

In addition to units from Operation Atalanta, in this training exercise land, naval, and air assets from CJTF-HOA have participated, units from the French Forces stationed in Djibouti (FFDJ) and the Italian Navy, as well as a Japanese air detachment and the Djibouti Coast Guard. All of them are working to combat piracy in the Gulf of Aden.

During the Bull Shark exercise, crisis response and personnel recovery procedures were implemented in order to strengthen the capabilities and interoperability of the partnership in a joint combined environment.

In this context, the frigate Victoria, flagship of Atalanta, has demonstrated her capacity to deploy personnel responsible for recovering the wounded in hostile territory using her SH-60B helicopter, as well as participating in the fight against terrorism with the contribution of a Special Operations team. It also increases maritime surveillance and security thanks to her ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

For their part, aviators from DAT “Orión” participated in the development of the exercise's aerial scenario in coordination with CJTF-HOA. Spanish military personnel from Information and Telecommunications Systems also joined this international structure to ensure communications interoperability.

The crew of the D.4 VIGMA aircraft was activated to carry out a surveillance and reconnaissance mission, with the aim of searching for vessels suspected of terrorist activity off the coast of Djibouti. Once the threat was located and identified, the Spanish aircraft acted as On-Scene Coordinator, providing images of events in the area to the Multinational Coordination Centre, from where this simulated operation was directed.

The exercise successfully achieved its objectives: to enable strategic access to all of East Africa and increase the capacity to employ integrated multi-domain capabilities, as well as to demonstrate collaboration between CJTF-HOA and EUNAVFOR to enhance interoperability and facilitate future partnerships throughout this African region.