Brazilian ship joins exercise to ready U.S. strike groups

ABOARD THE GREENHALGH

It's good to be one of the good guys.

Under way out here on the open Atlantic, southeast of Ocracoke Island, this Brazilian frigate is steaming its way into the global maritime future.

The Greenhalgh is one of several foreign ships taking part in this year's Joint Task Force Exercise, dubbed Operation Brimstone, which runs until the end of the month off the East Coast from Virginia to Florida.

This year's exercise, which is preparing the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group and Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group for deployment, involves more than 15,000 service members from several countries.

Other partners include a British aircraft carrier and French, Italian and Peruvian submarines. French Rafale fighter jets and French Hawkeye early-warning aircraft are also participating in integrated flight operations aboard the carrier.

All have come as part of the U.S. Navy's grand plan to increase its operations with other navies, with the intent of being better able to mount a truly global force should the need arise.

This year's exercise marks the first time a Brazilian ship has operated as an integral part of a U.S. strike group. The Greenhalgh comes with skills in interdiction and anti-submarine warfare. In exchange, it's learning how to work with a coalition.

"We bring our training, all our equipment to put into this," said Cmdr. Claudio Mello, the ship's commanding officer. "It allows us to be one more asset in an international operation."

His American counterparts agree.

"We're very excited that Brazil sent a ship to this year's exercise," said Rear Adm. Frank Pandolfe, commander of Carrier Strike Group Two. "Everyone is very impressed with the crew's skills and professionalism."

Brazil has worked with the U.S. Navy for decades through participation in exercises off the South American coast. About 10 years ago, another Brazilian ship traveled north to participate in a previous Joint Task Force Exercise, but as an "enemy" ship.

The Greenhalgh arrived in the United States in mid-June for an earlier exercise with the Iwo Jima group. The experiment was a success, so Brazil asked to stay on for the Joint Task Force Exercise.

This year, as an ally, the stakes are higher. First and foremost, communications have to be integrated between the ships. This involves not only differences in language, but in doctrine and procedure as well.

Saturday afternoon's focus was on preventing an air attack. In

the ship's darkened combat operations center, sailors leaned over radar and sonar screens, monitoring air and sea traffic above and below.

Then came the call: incoming enemy aircraft. Code red.

As the ship's siren sounded, the roughly 300-person, all-male crew headed to general quarters. Some manned shipboard guns, others loaded the ship's missile launcher, others in firefighting gear stood by for damage control.

The exercise went well, with the Greenhalgh and Iwo Jima able to exchange classified messages and text chat. But beneath this operational element lies the human element, and this is something the navies are just as determined to develop.

In the ship's ward room, U.S. Navy Lt. j.g. Jay Michel and Brazilian Lt. Fabio Fonseca chatted at a table.

Michel came from the cruiser Vella Gulf last week to serve as liaison officer aboard the Greenhalgh for the rest of the exercise. Sailors from partner countries have been hopping to one another's ships throughout the exercise.

Michel said he's enjoyed the different culture aboard the frigate, which he said is more easygoing than American ships. The smaller crew allows for more mingling, he added, and the beer at night is a bonus.

Fonseca, a helicopter pilot on the Greenhalgh, said it's important for young officers such as he and

Michel to work together. This builds trust, he said, and could form a bond that would help in the future as they each rise in rank and, perhaps, work alongside each other again.

This is just what someone such as Pandolfe wants to hear.

"The hope is that the goodwill formed between the liaison officers moving around the ships will carry on through the years," he said. "We'll see these faces again."

Mello, the Greenhalgh's commanding officer, said that, in the future, there's a good chance the United States would have to incorporate a foreign ship into one of its strike groups on short notice.

Practicing this way will make the process that much smoother. For Brazil, the joint work makes the Greenhalgh more able to join, say, a United Nations peacekeeping mission or other international response, he added.

"This exercise is not just about the exercise," said Cmdr. Leonardo Mattos, a Brazilian liaison officer with Fleet Forces Command who was visiting the Greenhalgh.

"For the global maritime partnership to become real, we need to do more of this."

Matthew Jones, (757) 446-2949, matthew.jones@pilotonline.com