FEBRUARY 3, 2025 – Reserve Sailors from U.S. Sixth Fleet kicked off Exercise MAKO Challenge 2025 today at the Navy Warfare Development Center (NWDC) in Norfolk.
The MAKO series is designed to provide Reserve Sailors with hands-on experience in a Maritime Operations Center (MOC) overseeing forces at the Operational Level of War (OLW).
“U.S. Sixth Fleet is hosting this year’s MAKO Challenge to provide Reserve Sailors with the experience and skills necessary to establish and operate a Maritime Operations Center in the event of a crisis or large-scale conflict,” said Rear Adm. Jason ‘PADI’ Naidyhorski, vice commander, U.S. Sixth Fleet. “Given the threats we face in the Sixth Fleet area of operations, our Reserve Sailors have to be ready on Day One to step into scenarios like this at a moment’s notice.”
Reserve Sailors from U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa (NAVEUR-NAVAF), Fleet Forces Command (USFF), U.S. Second Fleet, U.S. Fourth Fleet, U.S. Fifth Fleet, and U.S. Tenth Fleet are also participating in the exercise.
The MAKO series of exercises is conducted annually to provide Reserve Sailors with realistic training in MOC procedures, preparing them to support their active-duty counterparts in both exercises and real-world contingencies.
Over the course of the four-day exercise, Sailors enhance warfighting readiness through hands-on training in MOC watchstanding, briefing commanders, and establishing operational planning teams and cross-functional planning teams in support of the Fleet Commander’s Decision Cycle.
Both the Chief of Naval Operations’ 2024 Warfighting Instructions and Chief of Navy Reserve’s 2024 Strategic Guidance prioritize readiness for the possibility of large scale conflict, in which the MOC construct would play a critical role in operations. The MAKO series of exercises has been tailored to prepare for Reserve Sailors this contingency in accordance with this guidance.
Commander, U.S. Sixth Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in coordination with Allied and interagency partners, to advance U.S. national interests and promote security and stability in Europe and Africa.
From LCDR Robert Mook