U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet
March 13, 2023

A Clash of Doctrine: VBSS in the Western Indian Ocean

Within the Bandari Maritime Academy of Mombasa, Kenya, participants in exercise Cutlass Express 2023, hailing from Djibouti, Georgia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, United Kingdom, and the United States, gathered to address a common challenge – Visit, Board, Search and Seizure.

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Often, when militaries look at how to train VBSS capabilities, they focus on the VB – ‘how do we best arm and train our people to board non-compliant vessels.’ It’s a lot of gun, boat, hand-to-hand, and room clearing training, and aligns with the foundations of their military training….

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Ramos is a former captain of Rio de Janeiro’s state police department, and currently works as part of INTERPOL’s Project Compass….

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The VBSS portion of Cutlass Express 2023 comprises multiple scenarios, executed with nuance. The Georgian, and the U.K. Royal Navy gave academic training on the techniques, tools, and trade skills they use to board a vessel while the U.S. Coast Guard briefed participants on how to operate a Maritime Operations Center. One moment, the Royal Navy instructor would be giving a detailed explanation on how to respectfully search a female suspect….More often-than-not, the academic floor is yielded to the participants, where service members from Comoros, Djibouti, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, and Mozambique discuss the real world situations they’ve experienced….