African Lion 2023, the US Africa Command’s largest annual combined exercise, involves 18 nations and approximately 8,000 personnel across Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, and Tunisia.
African Lion 23 (AL23) began on May 13 and will continue until June 18.
The exercise is led by Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF), and sponsored by US Africa Command.
In addition to US forces, participants include allies and African partners from Morocco, Tunisia, and Senegal.
The current edition of the exercise encompasses a wide range of activities, including multiple combined arms live-fire exercises, a maritime exercise, and an air exercise involving US C-130J Super Hercules, KC-135 Stratotanker, F-16 Fighting Falcons, and bomber aircraft.
Additionally, there will be a joint forcible entry exercise where paratroopers will be deployed into a field training exercise, as well as two chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear response exercises, and three events focused on humanitarian civic assistance programs.
The exercise creates a prime environment for conducting realistic, dynamic, and collaborative readiness training, intersecting multiple geographic and functional combatant commands, while also encompassing strategic maritime choke points and crucial global shipping lanes.
Exercise AL23 involves US service members from all service components, including the Reserves and National Guard. It provides an opportunity for members of the joint team to build and test their strategic readiness to deploy, fight and win in a complex, multi-domain environment.
“Our collective ability to bring like-minded nations together for an exercise like this is truly impressive,” said Maj. Gen. Joel Tyler, United States Africa Command Chief of Staff. “African Lion is the centerpiece of the US Africa Command’s exercise strategy, and one of the greatest US exercises across the globe.”
African Lion 22 involved approximately 7,800 military personnel from nine partner nations, focusing on enhancing regional security, interoperability, and counterterrorism capabilities across various operational domains.
