According to information published by the U.S. DoD on February 27, 2022, the Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Minnesota (SSN 783) and the Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS Billings (LCS 15) conducted bilateral anti-submarine warfare (ASW) training exercise in the Caribbean Sea with the Colombian navy.
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A Colombian navy Dauphin helicopter flies over the Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Minnesota (Picture source: U.S. DoD)
Minnesota and Billings were joined by Colombian navy Type 209 submarine ARC Pijao (SSK 28), frigates ARC Independiente (FM 54) and ARC Almirante Padilla (FM 51), and Colombian helicopters and maritime patrol aircraft (MPA).
At the start of the exercise, the ships took advantage of their close proximity to conduct maneuvering drills and test communications by conducting a photo exercise (PHOTOEX). Units then dispersed to practice various elements of ASW.
Forces conducted different events to train in detection and tracking, analysis and classification, and simulating attacks of targets at varying depths and conditions.
USS Billings (LCS-15) is a Freedom-class littoral combat ship of the United States Navy.[4] She is the first ship in naval service named after Billings, Montana.
The Almirante Padilla-class frigates is a series of frigates operated by the Colombian Navy. The designation of this class is Type FS 1500 and there are four ships in service.
The ships were built by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) at Kiel, West Germany in the 1980s, with the first vessel commissioning in 1983 and the last in 1984
Type 209 is a class of diesel-electric attack submarine developed exclusively for export by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft of Germany. The original variant (Type 209/1100) was designed in the late 1960s. The class is exclusively designed for export market.
Despite not being operated by the German Navy, five variants of the class (209/1100, 209/1200, 209/1300, 209/1400 and 209/1500) have been successfully exported to 13 countries, with 61 submarines being built and commissioned between 1971 and 2008.
