The Tribune

THE Royal Bahamas Defence Force will be hosting the largest military training exercise of its kind this month.

Tradewinds 2018 is an annual regional military training exercise that will be held in the Bahamas from June 14 to 21. This year's exercise will focus on countering transnational organised crime in the region.

The main objective of the highly regarded military event is to foster training for security forces that is "tailored for the region by the region." The annual exercise is sponsored by the United States Southern Command.

This year's Tradewinds will consist of 22 partner nations from the Caribbean region, the wider Americas and Western Europe. Additionally, the exercise will consist of over 800 troops from various Caribbean nations that are expected to put their military training to test.

Phase one of the Tradewinds exercise will take place in St Kitts and Nevis beginning June 3 and culminates on June 12. This preliminary training will prepare forces for the final training and implementation phase in the Bahamas. This final phase will take place from June 14 to 21 and will consist of simulated terrorist attacks on New Providence.

During the training exercise, a military presence comprising of land and sea will be visible in New Providence. Phase zero of the training commenced on May 28. The training is to prepare the troops for phases one and two of the exercise.

Tradewinds 2017 was held in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago from June 6 to 17 of that year. The Bahamas last hosted Tradewinds in 2009.