Group of Baltic Fleet (BF) officers returned fr om St. Petersburg where they discussed the coming FRUKUS 2012 international exercise. It will take place in the Baltic Sea for the first time.
During the session of working group, BF officers along with representatives of Russian Navy main HQ, Northern Fleet, and the Kuznetsov Naval Academy have developed proposals for concept of the coming exercise.
The first planning conference with all FRUKUS participants will be held late in Feb 2012 in St. Petersburg. Representatives of four countries will develop the exercise concept and determine participating ships.
International naval exercise FRUKUS is the annual activity held in order to practice interaction at sea. Traditionally, it comprises warships of Russian, French, British, and US navies.
The history of the FRUKUS exercise goes back to 1988. Initially, it was called RUKUS because of participating countries (Russia + UK + US). In 1993 France was invited to attend the exercise. Since that time the exercise named FRUKUS is held in four-side format.
The exercise is conducted every year since 2003 with the view to improve cooperation between Russian, French, British, and US navies. Each country delegates one warship.
[mappress] Naval Today Staff, December 09, 2011; Image: mil