THE leadership experience gained by ADF personnel on Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2014 will prove invaluable when the LHDs are introduced into service later this year, according to RADM Simon Cullen, the deputy commander of RIMPAC’s combined task force. “Having men and women from the Navy, Army and Air Force command this large, multinational amphibious task group at RIMPAC has greatly expanded the depth of knowledge and experience we have – not only operating in and around large ships, such as the US Navy’s amphibious assault vessels and our incoming LHDs, but also coordinating ground forces and air assets to achieve operational and humanitarian objectives,” RADM Cullen said. Australia sent more than 800 personnel from HMA Ships Success and Sheean, a rifle company from 5RAR and three RAAF AP-3C Orion aircraft to the exercise which concluded on August 1 to conduct military training with defence forces from 21 other Pacific Rim nations. At the start of the exercise on June 26, ADF officers were appointed to three senior RIMPAC command positions for the first time. Apart from RADM Cullen, AIRCDRE Chris Westwood served as Combined Forces Air Component Commander and CDRE Peter Leavy served as Expeditionary Strike Group Commander. To further enhance Australia’s amphibious capabilities, infantry soldiers from Army’s 1 Brigade conducted amphibious focused training with soldiers and marines from across the Pacific. The training covered a range of combat skills and culminated in a major amphibious landing and beach assault serial, launched from USS Peleliu. HMAS Sheean and the three RAAF AP-3C Orion aircraft participated in multinational anti-submarine warfare scenarios, while HMAS Success played a major role in the RIMPAC Replenishment Task Force by refueling the fleet of coalition warships and allowing them to stay involved in the exercise missions. CJOPS VADM David Johnston said operational capability would be greatly enhanced by the ADF’s participation at RIMPAC. “We have already seen a real-world scenario this year in the Pacific region which demonstrated that cooperation amongst a large group of partner nations is sometimes crucial to conduct a mission that would be an insurmountable task for an individual nation,” VADM Johnston said. “The search for Malaysian Airlines flight MH-370 covered an enormous search area which was only possible because a group of nations, all participating in RIMPAC, operated together with a common goal. “Exercises like this give us an opportunity to refine and enhance our interoperability with each other, so we can work efficiently and effectively together when real situations arise.” RIMPAC is a biennial military training exercise conducted to strengthen international maritime partnerships, enhance interoperability and improve the readiness of participating forces for a wide range of potential operations. It is the world’s largest maritime exercise and this year involved 49 surface ships, six submarines, 200 aircraft and 24,000 armed forces personnel from 22 nations. This year was the 24th RIMPAC and Australia has participated in every iteration of the exercise since it began in 1971.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 05:35:35 +0000
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