From strength to strength

The joint Omani-British military exercise Al Saif Al Sareea 3 (Swift Sword 3), for regional security, peace and unity will be the largest and the most effective, according to the army representatives of both sides.

Created from the bundle of expertise, skills and diplomatic, economic and IT best practices of the earlier Swift Sword 1 and 2, the 3rd version will see nearly 5,500 British soldiers sharing with their Omani counterparts the expertise and capabilities in land, air and sea.

At a joint Omani-British press conference convened by the Moral Guidance of the Staff of the Sultan’s Armed Forces pertaining to the Al Saif Al Sareea 3 training under the chairmanship of Brigadier General Hassan bin Ali al Mughaini, Head of the Moral Guidance, the official spokesman for the exercise, with the participation of the British side represented by Brig Gen Simon P Asquith, and Brig Gen Mark Peter Kenyon, Director of the Directorate of Military Development, in addition to Colonel Saeed bin Suleiman al Shabibi, Lt General Mansoor bin Sulaiman al Habsi, and Lt Col Salah bin Ahmed al Mazrouei, Al Mughaini said all necessary regional safety and security measures are carefully taken into consideration while preparing for the Al Saif Al Sareea 3 and that the exercise will began on second week of this month.

“Al Saif Al Sareea 3 is the biggest of its kind and disaster management and crisis management are two of the key areas that we look at as we, in Oman, have lessons from the three natural calamities Gonu, Phet and Mekunu,” Brig Gen Hassan said.

As for scenarios, it was mentioned that all scenarios of war were taken into account. The most important of these scenarios are crisis management and provision of alternatives. Therefore, it is important to involve civil government bodies such as the Ministry of Transport and Communications, Ministry of Health, Municipalities and other ministries.

On the participation of British troops in the exercise Al Saif Al Sareea 3, Brig Gen Simon P Asquith said that the joint exercise is the culmination of the long standing bilateral relations between the two nations.

“This series of joint military exercises reflect the depth of the relationship between the Sultanate and the United Kingdom, and in this exercise we train on multiple uses of weapons in a rugged environment. The most important is the development of joint capabilities and training on the Typhoon aircraft owned by the Sultanate and the United Kingdom, as well as the British Vogue aircraft and amphibious operations through modern military vehicles, The Rat tanks “Challenger”, and testing these tools between members of the two countries is very important,” Simon P Asquith added. With regard to the long gap between the Al Saif Al Sareea 2 in 2001 and the Al Saif Al Sareea 3, it was clarified that the other phases were purely national and only local forces were involved with the participation of the weapons of the Sultan’s Armed Forces and the rest of the military and other security and government bodies in the Sultanate whereas the third one is an international one with the participation of more than 5,500 UK force members.

Army officials also highlighted the importance of civil participation at times of tropical situations, the most recent of which was Mekunu which affected Dhofar recently. The participation between the forces and the civilians has had a great impact in overcoming the crisis.

The conference also shed light on various crises and disasters, as well as in the scenario of wars, including finding alternatives to roads, finding alternatives for transporting aid if airports and land and sea ports are damaged and communicating with embassies of other countries among others.

Military spokesmen also reviewed the importance of the media in transmitting the details of the military exercises to the public and urged all to refrain from sharing false, baseless or negative news and to rely upon the government sources for information.