August 10, 2015, SAN DIEGO, California — Naval, aviation and ground forces from the United States, Japan, Mexico and New Zealand are scheduled to participate in Exercise Dawn Blitz 2015 off the coast and ashore in Southern California from August 31 to September 9.
Dawn Blitz 2015 (DB15) is a multinational amphibious exercise designed to train the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps in operations expected of an amphibious task force while also building U.S. and partner nation operational capabilities and interoperability. DB15 will also test military forces in the planning and execution of amphibious operations in a series of live training events at sea and ashore.
Units from U.S. Third Fleet (C3F) and I Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF) will utilize latest technologies and live exercise techniques to accomplish Dawn Blitz 2015 training objectives.
DB15 will involve the compositing of 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade (1st MEB) and the U.S. Navy’s Expeditionary Strike Group 3 (ESG 3) as a brigade-level task force. U.S. and partner nations will conduct live-fire training at sea and ashore, Maritime Prepositioning Force (MPF) training, sea-basing operations and tactical amphibious operations from ship to shore.
Australia, Colombia and Chile will also integrate military personnel within the U.S. military staff to collaborate on the latest operational strategies and build a shared understanding of how to conduct coalition sea-basing and amphibious operations ashore.
This exercise is one of a series of amphibious training events on both coasts of the U.S. that take place alternating years. Last year on the East Coast, Bold Alligator 2014 exercised U.S. and coalition forces across a broad range of sea-based vessels while conducting amphibious operations at sea and ashore as well as training in support of contingency operations.
Exercises like Dawn Blitz 2015 provide realistic, relevant training necessary for effective global crisis response expected of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.
Media interested in covering DB15 should contact I MEF Public Affairs at (760) 763-7047 or at [email protected] and provide your full name, news organization, a good cell number and email address. Due to limited transportation capacity on the MV-22 Osprey, request media respond by Friday, Aug. 14 to hold a spot.
U.S. and international media are invited to conduct coverage during DB15.
For planning purposes, the below dates are available for media coverage:
Aug. 31 – Departure of U.S., Japan and Mexican naval vessels
Sept. 3 – U.S., Japan Media Day at Sea – Visit U.S. and Japanese ships at sea, view amphibious and aviation ops, interviews with key leadership and coalition participants
Sept. 5 – All Countries Media Day Ashore – Observe “D-Day” operations bringing military forces and equipment ashore via aviation and surface crafts, interview senior military officials, capture coalition operations ashore
Sept. 6 – Mexico Media Day – Visit Mexican ship at sea, view amphibious operations and interview key personnel, capture Mexican military operations ashore
Sept. 7 – U.S., Coalition military operations ashore at Camp Pendleton
Sept. 10 – Dawn Blitz Closing Ceremony