US Navy, Marines Kick Off Global Military Exercise, Largest Since Cold War

The French anti-submarine frigate FREMM Auvergne (R) and the U.S. Navy USS Donald Cook class guided missile destroyer (2R) and the Greek HS Aigaion frigate (2L) during an exercise how simulate a humanitarian response to a powerful earthquake and significant movement of IDF vessels and foreign vessels in the Mediterranean sea on Aug. 7, 2019. Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps commenced a large globe-spanning military exercise on Aug. 3—the largest of its kind since the Cold War. The next day, China announced a large-scale drill in the South China Sea in response.

“LSE 2021 is the first naval and amphibious large-scale exercise conducted since the Ocean Venture NATO exercises launched in 1981 during the Cold War,” U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet said in a July 27 statement.