Global Exercise Tests 25,000 Sailors and Marines in a Live, Virtual, and Constructive Training Environment
09 August 2023
Norfolk, Va. -- The Large Scale Exercise (LSE) 2023 is underway. LSE 2023 is a massive exercise conducted by U.S. Fleet Forces Command (USFF), U.S. Pacific Fleet (PACFLT), and U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa (NAVEUR/ NAVAF), integrated with respective Marine, numbered fleet forces and staffs, and supported by available joint and combined enablers.
The exercise is designed to stimulate global operations at the operational-to-tactical levels of war and to refine how the Navy and Marine Corps synchronizes maritime operations across multiple fleets in support of the joint force. LSE 2023 will simulate a massive global conflict that combines both live and virtual training to test key warfighting concepts across U.S. naval forces.
LSE 2023 bolsters the combined firepower of 25,000 Sailors and Marines across 22 time zones, seven fleets, and six U.S. combatant commands.
LSE was first started in 2021 by Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Michael Gilday to evaluate the preparedness of the Navy’s globally dispersed commands in the event of a global conflict. During. a 24 July USFF media event, Adm. Daryl Caudle, Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command announced that he and Lt. Gen. Brian Cavanaugh, Commander, Marine Forces Command (MARFORCOM), will lead the exercise.
The primary objectives of LSE 2023 are to assess Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO) capabilities and supporting concepts of Littoral Operations in a Contested Environment (LOCE) and Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO), synchronize global U.S. naval operations, and improve warfighting effectiveness against strategic competitors in support of Geographic Combatant Commands. These combined efforts are designed to support the CNO’s initiative by integrating fleet operations with emerging technologies and improve and validate DMO capabilities while advancing naval doctrine and tactics.
“What you have to do is you have to fight with the force you have and then adjust its ability and its capabilities and its training and how you posture it and how you train to it and teach the Sailors and Marines to fight in the environment,” Caudle said. “Our ability to distribute our maritime forces, and ability to command and control that, because distributing that allows us to actually do more with that force. So that punches above its weight. But also, I’ve got a Marine Corps that I can bring to bear.”
LSE 2023 is the second iteration of this exercise building upon and informed by lessons learned from LSE 2021 and warfighting concepts refined through fleet battle problems with the goal to drive toward an all-domain naval force.
Participating units will include: USFFC, USPACFLT, NAVEUR NAVAF, MARFORCOM, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Pacific, seven U.S. numbered fleets: Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Tenth.