Navies from 26 nations join massive Pacific show of force

The Royal Australian Navy ship HMAS Stuart fires a harpoon missile during the Rim of the Pacific exercise in waters off the Hawaiian Islands, Aug. 29, 2020.  (U.S. Navy)

Among the goals of the month-long Rim of the Pacific maritime exercise now underway in Hawaii is to show would-be adversaries the solidarity of the 26 nations participating, according to the  commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet.

The navies in the RIMPAC exercises from North America, South America, the Indo-Pacific and Europe should “send a message of solidarity to any would-be actors that would upend the international rules-based order,” Adm. Samuel Paparo said Friday during a pier-side news conference at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

Paparo described China’s military build-up in recent years as “alarming” as “it is aimed at “power projection beyond its waters and beyond its shores.”

Participating are forces from Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, South Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, the United Kingdom and the United States.

RIMPAC lasts until Aug. 4, with 38 ships, four submarines, 30 unmanned systems, 170-plus aircraft and more than 25,000 personnel, including troops from land forces from nine nations.

“That commitment made by our partners in the Pacific and around the globe is the commitment to a free and open Pacific,” Vice Adm. Michael Boyle, commander of RIMPAC’s joint task force and U.S. 3rd Fleet, said during the news conference.

RIMPAC’s warfighting program includes gunnery, missile, anti-submarine and air-defense exercises. Other drills focus on amphibious landings, counter-piracy, mine clearance, explosive ordnance disposal and diving operations, Stars & Stripes reports.

The exercise also integrates drones from multiple navies into RIMPAC’s core events. Such integration is already taking place in the U.S. Navy’s operations in the Pacific. Four U.S. Navy drones are among those participating — Nomad, Ranger, Sea Hawk and Sea Hunter.

The integration of unmanned platforms to RIMPAC will broaden the U.S. Navy’s concept of “distributed lethality” for any coalition joint force formed in the future, Boyle said.