NATO trains Tunisian Navy on maritime simulators

Tunisian Navy officers improved their readiness at sea and knowledge on maritime modelling and simulation during a two-week training course held in March 2019 at the naval base La Goulette, Tunisia. The training was sponsored by the NATO Science for Peace and Security (SPS) Programme to help Tunisia modernise its defence and upgrade its maritime simulator to NATO standards and architectures.

The training centre, La Galite Academy, is located in theTunisian port of La Goulette in the western basin of the Mediterranean. Here,cadets, military officers and students of the Ecole Supérieure de Guerre trainon a maritime simulator to improve their competences and be ready to face anythreat.

Improving readinessat sea

Over 20 Tunisian naval officers attended the NATO trainingaimed at upgrading their maritime simulator with further simulationcapabilities, such as anti-submarine warfare, electronic warfare andenvironmental conditions.

“This course was important, as it ensured a fast learningand a qualified preparation for the navy personnel and it will directly improveour readiness and effectiveness,” said Captain Lofti Melliti, co-director ofthe course and head of the IT department of the Tunisian Navy.

The maritime simulator mimics various operations, fromhybrid to conventional scenarios. ‘The core of the simulation capability is aconstructive simulator which manages various assets such as vessels, but alsoaircrafts, general maritime traffic, potential threats and enemy vessels,’explained Dr Alberto Tremori, modelling and simulation scientist at NATO’sCentre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE), in La Spezia, Italy.Events and incidents can be added and the trainee has to make various decisionsfrom tactical manoeuvers to detection and identification of possible threatswith radars, and finally engage with the enemy.

Distributing thesimulator to multiple locations

As well as additional functionalities, the Tunisian Navyrequested to be able to scale the simulator towards a distributed architecture,so that it could ensure the organisation of training over multiple Navy sites,including the Academy or the Navy Special Forces base, so that they can trainat their premises.

“The training was a two-way cooperation,” stressed DrClaudio Palestini, SPS Advisor at NATO. “It was indeed instrumental inunderstanding the Tunisian Navy’s requirements and getting acquainted withtheir maritime simulator to understand its architecture, functionalities andhow it should be distributed to other locations,” he added.

In the long term, the objective of the Tunisian Navy is tobe compatible with NATO standards, to take part in NATO multinational exercisesand to further strengthen the maritime security of Tunisia and its neighbouringcountries. “Cooperation among the SPS Programme and the CMRE contributes toprojecting stability and to enhancing Tunisia’s presence in the MediterraneanSea,” said Dr Deniz Beten, senior advisor of the SPS Programme.

Tunisia is an active partner in the SPS Programme in theframework of the Defence Capability Building package and is currently engagedin activities which include chemical, biological, radiological and nucleardefence, cyber defence, counter-improvised explosive devices andsecurity-related advanced technology.