The multinational exercise NEMESIS 2022, which focuses on potential emergency scenarios in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Republic of Cyprus, was successfully conducted for the 9th year. DEFENCE ReDEFiNED watched the exercise from the “ZINON” Coordination Center and provides you with a detailed report and photographs from the large multinational exercise.

A total of 8 states participated in the exercise: the Republic of Cyprus, Greece, France, Italy, Israel, Egypt, the USA and Britain. More than 600 participants took part in it, while the general coordination of the exercise was undertaken by the Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC).

The Republic of Cyprus participated with AW-139 helicopters of the National Guard and the Cyprus Police, vessels of the Coast Guard and General Support Ships of the Navy as well as 550 aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Furthermore, the Underwater Demolition Unit, the Frogmen Reserve Association, the Emergency Response Unit, the Fire Service, the Ambulance Service and the Ministry of Shipping as well as other government agencies participated in the exercise.

Greece participated with the frigate Hydra, C-130 aircraft, paratroopers of the 31st Search & Rescue Operations Squadron and the 747 Special Engineer Unit. In addition to the representatives at the coordination center, France participated with the Atlantique-2 aircraft, Italy with the CORSI patrol boat and P-72 aircraft, the USA with P-8 Poseidon aircraft and the UK with a Bell Griffin 412 helicopter. Israel and Egypt participated with the respective Haifa and Cairo JRCCs as the Republic of Cyprus maintains close contacts with the specific centers due to the fact that it has delimited the EEZ with both states. 

It is worth noting that bodies from the European Union as well as from the hydrocarbon research and extraction sector also participated in the exercise.

Nemesis 2022 was divided into four phases. The first examined a scenario of anti-terrorist operations on a platform in the EEZ of the Republic of Macedonia, with the implementation of the “SHIELD” plan, and the National Guard together with the Police undertook to carry out anti-terrorist missions. The second phase focused on search and rescue operations with the implementation of the “NEARCHOS” plan, where the injured were evacuated. For the purposes of the exercise, dummies were thrown into the sea and evacuated by the rescue teams. 

The third phase included the search and rescue operation which was conducted with the implementation of the national plan “TEFKROS” as the 120-member platform crew had to disembark the platform which had been seriously damaged for safety reasons. The fourth phase focused on ways to counter potential marine pollution with the implementation of the national plan “ORFEAS”. To deal with the environmental disaster due to the state of emergency, the assistance of the European Union and the private sector was also requested.

The exercise was monitored at the “ZINON” Coordination Center by the Minister of Defence, Charalambos Petridis, the Chief of the National Guard, Lieutenant General Dimokritos Zervakis, Defence attachés and representatives of the states participating in the exercise as well as of other states. The attendees had the opportunity to watch a short representation of the scenario of the exercise and were then transferred to the Operations Room of the JRCC where they witnessed the remarkable work that the Centre performs, coordinating the action of all participants in demanding scenarios. 

The Minister of Defence, Charalambos Petridis, stated that the surveys conducted in the EEZ of the Republic of Cyprus are fruitful, but also entail responsibilities. He referred to the high level of cooperation among the parties, expressing his expectation for the participation of more countries in the exercise’s conduct for the 10th year.

Also read: Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC) | Establishment of educational Research and Rescue Center and Alternative Operations Center