International Maritime Exercise (IMX) 2025 Concludes Successfully

With a closing address given in Bahrain on February 20, Vice Adm. George Wikoff, commander of US Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT), has brought to a close International Maritime Exercise (IMX) 2025, completing the ninth iteration of this international naval exercise since it was first held in 2012. This year, the main centers of exercise activity were in Aqaba (Jordan) and Bahrain, with some practical phases at sea.

The exercise kicked off with senior naval staff academic discussions covering the naval planning process, maritime operations center procedures, and disaster response coordination.

The Command Post Exercise over a distributed network involved naval command headquarters and civilian maritime coordination centers like the Seychelles’ Regional Coordination Operations Centre and Oman’s Maritime Security Centre, addressing scenarios in the Red Sea, the Arabian Gulf, and the Gulf of Aden and Oman. Commodore Rashid Mahmood Sheikh from Pakistan directed the exercise, highlighting the diverse perspectives brought by international participation.

The operational phase at sea focused on mine and countermeasures, visit, board, search and seizure procedures, unmanned systems and artificial intelligence integration, explosive ordnance disposal, vessel and harbor defense, search and rescue, and coordination of responses to mass casualty events.

Over 5,000 personnel from more than 35 nations and international organizations participated in IMX 2025, with countries like Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the UK among the participants. Notably absent were Saudi Arabia and the UAE, whose involvement would have been politically significant given recent regional developments.

Simultaneously, US Africa Command conducted Exercise Cutlass Express, involving nations from the East African coast and the Western Indian Ocean. Directed from the US 6th Fleet headquarters in Naples, this exercise focused on maritime security in regions like Mauritius, Seychelles, and Tanzania, with participation from countries like India, Kenya, Madagascar, and Somalia.

IMX 2025 and Cutlass Express have demonstrated the importance of international cooperation in ensuring maritime security and effective response to maritime incidents, setting the stage for future collaborative efforts in safeguarding global maritime interests.