Ibsamar planning underway, no exercise date given

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SA Navy (SAN) fleet headquarters in Simon’s Town this week hosted an initial planning meeting for a tri-nation naval exercise in South Africa at an as yet unspecified date this year.

If it does take place, it will be the seventh Exercise Ibsamar (India, Brazil and South Africa) where the naval components of the three countries’ defence forces exercise a range of serials ashore and at sea.

The Ibsamar initial planning conference is under the leadership of SA National Defence Force (SANDF), Joint Operations Division, Director: Force Preparation and Training, Brigadier General Pamla Dlamini.

A SA National Defence Force (SANDF) Directorate: Corporate Communication (DCC) statement has it South Africa will be both host and lead country for Ibsamar in the wake of the 2020 iteration that was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The week-long Simon’s Town initial planning conference discussed guidelines regarding the planning, directing, orchestrating and execution phases as well as command and control for Ibsamar 2022.

Ahead of the planning conference proper, Dlamini and his delegation called on Flag Officer Fleet (FOF), Rear Admiral Musawenkosi “Kop” Nkomonde, to provide “a broad strategic overview” with exercise specifics top of the agenda.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic saw Exercise Good Hope, with elements of the German Navy (Deutsche Marine) involved in joint serials with their SAN counterparts in Saldanha, put on hold. The exercise was scheduled to start on 31 January but travel and quarantine problems in Germany as well as South Africa’s early year rating as a “high crisis region” for coronavirus saw it postponed. The postponement was communicated to defenceWeb by the German defence attaché in South Africa and has not yet been officially acknowledged by DCC.