NATO and Turkey are engaged in exercises Dynamic Monarch/Kurtaran 2021, the 11th in a series of NATO-sponsored live Submarine Escape and Rescue (SMER) exercises. The International Submarine Escape and Rescue Liaison Office (ISMERLO) run exercise Dynamic Monarch is tied to the annual Turkish Navy exercise Kurtaran. The event is being conducted between Sept. 12 through Sept. 24, 2021, in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, off Aksaz, Turkey.
The Dynamic Monarch/Kurtaran, 2021 Submarine Search and Rescue Exercise, held in Marmaris, is being hosted by the Turkish Naval Forces Command. As a part of the event, the Turkish Navy, Army, Air Force and Coast Guard Command conducted two drills off Marmaris Aksaz in accordance with the exercise schedule. The Submarine Evacuation and Rescue Assistance Team and Parachute Search and Rescue Team took part in the medical phase of the exercise planned by the NATO Allied Submarine Command.
In one of the drills, the Submarine Evacuation and Rescue Assistance Team (DTKYT) of Turkey was transported to the region by air as part of the exercise. They were transferred to a ship TCG Alemdar which is equipped with the medical triage and treatment areas, patient intensive care unit and pressure room areas. TCG Alemdar is a Turkish naval submarine rescue ship.
Equipment and personnel from Italy, Turkey and the United States, along with personnel from Canada, Greece and Spain, are participating in the drill. The sea phase consists of rescue and intervention drills by deploying submarines, rescue vehicles, recompression chambers, medical teams and equipment, remote operated vehicles, aircraft, atmospheric diving suits and divers.
Established by NATO, ISMERLO is a military organisation and supports all nations and pursues the involvement of global submarine-operating nations. The organisation had lent its expertise during the incidents with Argentine Navy Submarine San Juan in 2017 and Indonesian Navy Submarine KRI Nanggala in April 2021.