Combined Forces Beneath the Waves

On Sunday, June 6^th, 2021, Underwater Explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teams from France, the United States, Germany, Canada, and the United Kingdom gathered at the Israeli Navy’s Underwater missions unit (Yaltam) Headquarters at Haifa Naval Base. 

The gathering took place as a part of the joint Naval exercise ‘Noble Melinda 2021’.

‘Noble Melinda’ is a multinational underwater EOD exercise that has been occurring annually in its current form for the last four years. This year, the planning and execution of the ‘Noble Melinda's 2021 iteration was spearheaded by the Israeli Navy’s underwater EOD unit ‘Yaltam’ with Israel acting as the hosting nation again.

“In its essence, the ‘Noble Melinda’ exercise provides a unique platform for empowering the operational and professional cooperation between the Israeli Navy, Yaltam and their corresponding counterparts in the foreign Navies participating in the exercise” states Cdr. Oron Inbar, commander of the Israeli ‘Yaltam’ unit. 

“Our first and foremost goal for this exercise is to preserve and strengthen the cooperative partnership of the participating Navies and expanding their professionalization in the realms of EOD” adds Cdr. Inbar.

Over the course of the exercise, joint teams comprised of operatives from the Israeli Navy’s Yaltam unit and operatives from the participating foreign EOD teams practiced a variety of complex underwater EOD scenarios and took part in professional think tanks and expert groups. 

The participating forces practiced operational scenarios including booby-trapped trade vessels, fishing boats and mined ports, in addition to decommissioned ordinance disposal and live demolition drills.

“Yaltam entered this exercise out of a desire to learn and expand our professional horizons in EOD subject matters we’re less exposed to, like shallow water mine clearing, and a willingness to share our extensive knowledge on combating naval terrorism – a field in which we have a vast experience in.”

Cdr. Inbar’s sentiments are shared by both LT Dominic Fredricks, leader of the US Navy’s EOD mobility platoon 812 and Cdr. Jacky, regional engagement director for the Commander in chief of the Mediterranean Sea in the French Navy (CECMED). 

“Nations recognize that the concept of interoperability and partnerships is crucial to the global maritime environment.” Declares LT fredricks “Multilateral exercises like Noble Melinda demonstrate the commitment to regional stability and maritime security shared by the United States, its allies and partners.”

“For us,” says Cdr. Jacky “the main objective of this year’s Noble Melinda exercise is to reaffirm the French Navy’s presence in the eastern Mediterranean area and train cooperatively with the forces of the Israeli Navy and ‘Yaltam’ over a long period” he emphasizes.

“We strive to continue maintaining and developing our extensive naval partnership with the Israeli Navy in both the realms of EOD and across all aspects of our partnership.”

This shared line of thinking is far from being purely theoretical, this cooperative mindset became the catalyst for a plethora of joint informative forums and professional development discussions.

When tasked to deal with complex EOD scenarios, such as a detained trade ship suspected to be booby-trapped by possible terrorists, the participating forces embarked on the mission together and operated as joint tactical teams. 

The operatives executed every objective and combined their strength, intelligence, and tactical prowess to eliminate every possible threat while advising each other based on each operative’s training and know-how. no threat was too dangerous or complex for the combined abilities of the EOD units of the participating Navies.

The return of ‘Noble Melinda’ to the Israeli Navy’s Haifa Naval Base created a unique opportunity for the Israeli Navy and ‘Yaltam’ to upgrade the scale of the exercise. And indeed, I am told by Cdr. Inbar that the main pillars of ‘Noble Melinda’ were greatly expanded and improved upon compared to the exercise’s previous iterations.

“This expansion is manifested in the exposure of the ‘Noble Melinda 2021’ exercise and its content to more foreign Navies that we consider current or possible future partners, as well as solidifying it as a source for mutual learning and close examination of our combat doctrine and theirs.” he specifies.

“The exercise allowed us to conduct a very in-depth and intensive exercise, we were able to focus on designing and inspecting our training effectiveness in ways that are not always available to us in our daily routine, via the fresh perspectives of the foreign participants and observers from Canada,Germany and the united kingdom.”

Cdr. Jacky, one of the organizers of this year’s ‘Noble Melinda’ exercise, reflected on the evolution that it undergoes between each installment: “Year by year, the exercise grows more and becomes more challenging and complex. This year, the growth is very noticeable.” he attests.

“Each day of the exercise included more training scenarios, and the scenarios themselves were serialized and included simulated events that are in line with the reality of our real-life operations. The tempo of the serials and their progressive rise in complexity helped us and our fellow participants to familiarize ourselves with new aspects in the EOD world, allowing us to operate together in a truly integrated mode.”

“’Noble Melinda’ acts as a display of our capabilities and demonstrates a portion of our abilities as a unit.” adds Cdr. Inbar. “Partnering with new observing navies allows us to share some of our abilities and approaches with nations that might perceive the same scenarios differently. At the end of the day, we are all divers and EOD operatives that share the same professional language, even if we speak in different tongues.” 

Cdr. Inbar’s words are echoed by the commanding officer of one of the observing forces – commander of the German ‘Minentaucherkompanie’ EOD unit, LCdr. Schubert. He explains that the bilateral relationship between his unit and Israel’s ‘Yaltam’ unit allows both sides to hone their operative abilities and train together.  “We view ‘Yaltam’ as very professional EOD unit, and we joined ‘Noble Melinda 2021’ to learn as much as we can from the Israeli Navy and the other participating navies.”

The exercise does not just display the current operational standing of its participants, but also the true strength of the multinational partnership between the participating navies and EOD teams that cooperated with each other over the last two weeks.

“Considering the major strategic role of Israel and the Israeli Navy in the eastern Mediterranean area, there is great significance in continuing our joint interactions and maintaining their advanced level.”  Cdr. Jacky expresses “the French Navy is committed to furthering the joint exercises between the navies and developing our interoperability in the eastern Mediterranean region, while maintaining our presence in the area.” 

“Only the Mediterranean Sea separates the borders of our two countries” he elaborates “we are neighbors in the maritime arena and we both know what’s at stake in that region. Therefore, we must operate together in that region.”

 LT Fredricks reiterates and adds “Together we are stronger. Anytime we get to work with our partners and allies, we learn from each other and sharpen our proficiencies. We know that if we must work together in the future should a crisis arise, we will have a common understanding of how each other operates.

Now, with the exercise reaching its conclusion and the many participating forces traveling back home, the sights have already been set on future exercises and cooperation, and of course: Noble Melinda 2022.