The Philippines will be joining 25 other countries including the United States and Japan in this year’s edition of Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) maritime drill – the world’s largest naval exercises.
RIMPAC 2022, the 28th exercise in the series that began in 1971, will be conducted beginning June 29 until August 4 in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California.
Military units from these 26 countries will send a total of 38 surface ships, four submarines and 170 aircraft to be used in the exercises, as well as about 250,000 personnel including ground troops from nine participating countries.
“As the world’s largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity designed to foster and sustain cooperative relationships that are critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world’s interconnected oceans,” said a statement from US Navy’s Third Fleet Commander.
Aside from the Philippines, US and Japan, other countries expected to join the exercises are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, and the United Kingdom.
Participating nations in RIMPAC 2022 will work under the theme “Capable, Adaptive, Partners” during which they will be showcasing their respective naval forces’ capabilities ranging from disaster relief and maritime security operations to sea control and complex warfighting.
“The relevant, realistic training program includes amphibious operations, gunnery, missile, anti-submarine and air defense exercises, as well as counter-piracy operations, mine clearance operations, explosive ordnance disposal, and diving and salvage operations,” the US Navy said.
The multinational naval exercises this year will be hosted by the Commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet and will be led by Commander of U.S. 3rd Fleet as the Combined Task Force (CTF) commander. Other high-ranking naval officers from US, Japan, Australia and Canada will also be holding key positions.
China will not be joining RIMPAC 2022 since it has been disinvited by the US in 2018 due to its behavior in the South China Sea where a host of Asian neighboring countries have overlapping claims.
Interestingly, other claimants, however, such as the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei have been invited to participate.