US-Sponsored 30-Nation Naval Exercise Concludes in Bahrain

With a closing address given in Bahrain on February 20, Vice Adm. George Wikoff, commander of US Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT), has brought to a close International Maritime Exercise (IMX) 2025, completing the ninth iteration of this international naval exercise since it was first was held in 2012. This year, the main centers of exercise activity were in Aqaba (Jordan) and Bahrain, with some practical phases at sea.

The exercise started with senior naval staff academic discussions and brainstorming covering the naval planning process, maritime operations center procedures, and disaster response coordination.

The exercise then moved on to a Command Post Exercise over a distributed network, involving both naval command headquarters but also civilian maritime coordination ce…