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RIMPAC
04 Home
The
multinational maritime warfare exercise, Rim of the Pacific 2004
(RIMPAC), ended after a month of intensive warfare training in
Hawaiian waters between seven nations; Australia, Canada, Chile,
Japan, Republic of Korea, United States and United Kingdom during
July 2004.
Exercise RIMPAC involved integrating forces from these nations
to practice their maritime warfare skills and communication networks
in order to improve their interoperability and warfighting skills.
One
of the challenges and highlights of this year's exercise was achieving
integration and interoperability with other nations. Royal Australian
Navy, Army and Air Force units were fully integrated into multinational
forces for exercise warfare scenarios, aiming for efficiency in
working as a coalition force. Australian Navy and Air Force personnel,
working in key positions in foreign ships, succeeded in improving
communication between units.
The Royal Australian Navy's Commodore Davyd Thomas was Deputy
Commander of the Combined Task Force and second in command of
the exercise.
''Exercise RIMPAC 04 was valuable training for operating in a
coalition situation. Our personnel have overcome communication
and system differences and shared their skills and expertise with
our friends and allies," Commodore Thomas said.
"We came here to improve our readiness and efficiency in
operating as a coalition force and we have done exactly that.
We have also made some good friends along the way''.
This
year's exercise included a variety of surface combatant ships,
submarines, aircraft, and amphibious forces. It was the 19th in
a series of RIMPAC exercises conducted periodically since 1971.
RIMPAC
04 involved:
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40 ships,
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7 submarines,
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90 aircraft, and
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17,000 sailors, airmen, marines, soldiers and coast guards personnel.
The
Australian Defence Force contribution included elements from each
of the services. The exercise included training in tactical proficiency,
non-combatant evacuation operations, anti-submarine warfare and
humanitarian assistance training.
Royal Australian Navy's HMAS
Newcastle and HMAS
Parramatta, auxiliary oil replenishment ship HMAS
Success, the Collins class submarine HMAS
Rankin and Royal Australian Air Force Maritime Patrol craft
conducted warfare exercises with over 35 other ships.
The Army's C Company 2RAR embarked in the USS Tarawa and conducted
amphibious operations with the United States Marine Corps. The
Australian Navy's Clearance Diving Team One also operated with
the US Marine Corps from the US High Speed Vessel Swift.
Royal Australian Air Force Hercules and B707 aircraft provided
logistics support.
Australian
Defence Force personnel from Maritime Command, Air Command and
Deployable Joint Forces were also fully integrated into the combined
headquarters in Hawaii. Specialist Royal Australian Navy and Royal
Australian Air Force personnel embarked in the aircraft carrier
USS JC Stennis, multi-purpose amphibious ship USS Tarawa, Austin
Class amphibious transport dock USS Dubuque and the Canadian air
defence destroyer HMCS Algonquin.
In total, more than 1100 Australian Defence Force personnel took
part in the exercise.
The aircraft carrier USS JC Stennis, hosted more than 2000 guests
from participating forces in addition to its ship's company of
5000 men and women for the official closing ceremony held August
1 in Pearl Harbour.
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