US Navy broadens scope of its Large Scale Exercise

The US Navy used lessons learned from ‘LSE 23' (pictured) to broaden the scope of ‘LSE 25'. (Janes/Michael Fabey)

The US Navy (USN) is enlarging the footprint for ‘Large Scale Exercise (LSE) 25' compared with the previous ‘LSE 23' and ‘LSE 21' iterations, according to USN and US Marine Corps (USMC) officials planning and executing the exercise.

Unlike previous years, ‘LSE 25' will include the participation of other countries, the officials noted on 30 June during briefing in Norfolk, Virginia, about the exercise. This year's exercise, slated to take place between the end of July and the beginning of August, will also include some domestic-based scenarios, USN officials said.

“This is the only naval exercise spanning all 10 Maritime Operations Centers (MOCs), incorporating both the navy and marine corps worldwide to evaluate and address gaps and seams between fleets,” Rear Admiral Kenneth Blackmon, vice commander of US Fleet Forces Command and ‘LSE 25' exercise director, said during the briefing.

“Many exercises focus on a single fleet, but LSE raises the bar by requiring co-ordination across all fleets, providing critical reps and sets at the operational level,” Rear Adm Blackmon said. “We've been planning this exercise for over a year. We just completed crisis action planning over the past few weeks.”

The USN used lessons learned from previous LSEs to plan this year's exercise, Captain Christopher Narducci, ‘LSE 25' exercise lead, said during the briefing.

“Major lessons included the need to integrate allies and partners early, bring in higher-level headquarters like the CNO [chief of naval operations] staff and type commands, improve realistic force availability and readiness timelines, and stress command-and-control across multiple time zones,” Capt Narducci said.