Phoenix Express 2026 Concludes at Tunisia’s Bizerte after 12-Day Drill

Six warships set out from Bizerte and La Goulette on September 11. Twelve days later they came back in. Phoenix Express 2026 was done.

The exercise was the 21st in a series that pairs US Naval Forces Europe and Africa with navies from across North Africa and the Mediterranean each year. Turkey, Tunisia, France, Algeria, Morocco and Italy each sent a ship: Turkish Gabya-class frigate TCG Gaziantep, Tunisian offshore patrol ship TNS Sophonisbe, French mine-clearance support ship FS Acheron, Algerian frigate ANS Erradii, Moroccan frigate RMNS Mohammed V, and Italian offshore patrol ship ITS Vega.

More than a dozen nations contributed personnel. Algeria, Belgium, Egypt, France, Georgia, Italy, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Türkiye and the United States were among them.

At sea, crews drilled on visit, board, search and seizure operations, search and rescue, explosive ordnance disposal, and chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defence. They used shared maritime operations centres to relay ship traffic data across the southern Mediterranean in real time.

The closing ceremony was held at La Goulette Naval Base on September 18. Vice Admiral J.T. Anderson, commander of US Naval Forces Europe and Africa, addressed participants alongside Tunisian Navy chief Admiral Adel Jehane and US Ambassador Bill Bazzi.