Batteries – Over the past week, Sea Fleet Marine Corps Force (FAIF) personnel have been deployed to the ground to participate in a combat shooting exercise. It was part of an amphibious offensive operation, which was part of the development of the annual exercise “Harmony”.
The units that participated were the Marine Infantry Battalion No. 2 (BIM2); the Field Artillery Battalion No. 1 (BIAC); the Command and Logistics Support Battalion (BICA); the Company of Amphibious Engineers (CKIA); the Anti-Aircraft Battalion (BIAA); the Communications Battalion No. 1 (BIC1); the Amphibious Vehicle Battalion No. 1 (BIVH); the FAIF Exploration Company; the FAIF Command and the Second Helicopter Naval Air Squadron (EAH2).
Both the personnel and the media were involved in the execution of actions consistent with the practice of the new doctrine of the Marine Corps. The latter focuses on the training of Combined Arms Combat Teams and a better understanding of multi-domain battle, integrating maneuver systems and ground, anti-aircraft, electronic warfare, information and communication fires.
FAIF Chief of Operations, Frigate Captain Maximiliano Marcelo D’Amico, explained: “We made the logical sequence of a tactical situation beginning with the movement of an exploration element and later with the advance of a mechanized company. Entering an area of barbed wire and anti-tank obstacles, forced the Company Commander to dismount the personnel from the vehicles to start the fire moving on foot, until the established objectives were conquered.”
Within the framework of this general exercise, different events were also played, among which Captain D’Amico detailed: “There were fire support events with weapon stations for mechanized wheeled vehicles and amphibious caterpillars; fire with anti-aircraft tube artillery; shooting with 81 and 60 mm mortars, with heavy machine guns and grenade launchers; that is, maneuver and fire from all the elements and weapons of the Marine Corps. In addition, we simulated the evacuation of the wounded with a Sea King helicopter to the Puerto Belgrano Naval Hospital”.
Day and night activities included scouting at Brigade level; updating of information; field artillery fire support; breaching anti-personnel and anti-tank obstacles by Amphibious Engineers; anti-tank rocket fire; combat field lighting; electronic warfare, control and coordination of fires and command actions.
On the last day of the campaign, the Commander of Training and Enlistment of the Navy (COAA), Rear Admiral Juan Carlos Daniel Abbondanza, and the Commander of the Marine Infantry (COIM), Commodore of the Navy Fernando Daniel Terribile, were present at the Control Post. In addition, the Commander of the Instruction and Evaluation Command of the Marine Infantry (COIE), Naval Captain IM Eduardo Javier Mateo, attended.
Regarding the activity, the highest authority of the COAA stated: “This exercise is very important for the Marine Corps and for the entire Navy. It is an advanced shooting exercise, in which different actions are played. It is the culmination of planning that began in February and that we see culminated in the field, which is the most important part of the training.”
For his part, the Commander of the FAIF, Captain IM Luis Alejo Bonanni, expressed his satisfaction with the development of the campaign on the ground. “The proposed objectives were two: to execute combat shooting at the Company level and to improve training in fire control and coordination. The balance is highly positive since the two main objectives were achieved, and also due to the enthusiasm, predisposition, sacrifice and dedication of the personnel who were deployed in the field”.
