Exercise Egemen (Taurus 09)

Royal Navy ships and Royal Marines from the Taurus 09 deployment have taken part (indeed the operation was run by 40 Commando) in the big Egemen exercise off the Turkish coast. As well as British and Turkish forces, Belgian, Dutch and US troops and ships were also involved. The purpose of the exercise was to deploy an entire Commando Unit ashore and maintain it for a number of days, conducting a variety of combat exercises including reconnaissance and fire support, while protecting it in a "multi-threat" environment. Turkish marines also practised non-combatant evacuation.



The exercise completed phase 1 of Taurus 09 which has now moved onto the Indian Ocean for Exercise Blue Toreador (see separate story).