Multinational Exercise Jeanne D’Arc will resume in Guam on May 13.
French and U.S. Navy officials completed a detailed assessment of the events that led to a French landing craft impacting the sea floor near Reserve Craft Beach on May 12, temporarily halting the exercise.
“We have assessed that we can resume this important multinational training after our staffs closely reviewed this incident,” said Capt. Jeff Grimes, Joint Region Marianas Chief of Staff. “I am confident that we and our international partners have improved our preparation, instituted additional supervision and put in place sufficient mitigations to ensure we can safely execute the training objectives for the duration of this exercise.”
The Navy is working with the U.S. Coast Guard, Guam Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Guam Department of Agriculture, the French navy and other organizations to further assess the effects of the landing craft impacting the sea floor.
Jeanne D’Arc is a French-led exercise aimed at strengthening strategic partnerships and exercising freedom of navigation operations across the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. The goal of Jeanne D’Arc is to facilitate interaction between militaries, which enhance our combined readiness in response to crises and disaster throughout the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.