HAWAII, Monday 30 June 2014 – The RIMPAC Opening and Exercise Launch took place this morning at the Ford Island Conference Centre, US Naval Base in Pearl Harbour, Hawaii. The Opening and Exercise Launch was officiated by the Commander Pacific Fleet United States Navy, Admiral Harry B. Harris, as the guest of honour.
The Commander of the Third Fleet United States Navy, Vice Admiral Kenneth E. Floyd, who will be the Commander of Combined Task Force RIMPAC for this year’s series.
Assisting him will be Rear Admiral Yasuki Nakahata from the Japan Maritime Self Defence Force as the Deputy CCTF, as well as a combined staff representing navies such as Canada, United States, Australia and Chile.
Prior to the official exercise launch, the CCTF, in his opening remarks, mentioned how Exercise RIMPAC had grown from a maritime exercise involving 10 nations during it’s inception in 1971, to a multinational and multilateral exercise playing host to over 22 nations from around the globe today. He underlined the importance of nations being ready for change, stressing the ever dynamic world we continue to live in and the increasing frequency of non-traditional security threats facing most countries today. The CCTF went on to highlight several of the main challenges of coordinating an exercise the scale of RIMPAC, plus pinpointed the importance of integration between the participants from different nations and backgrounds, before officially declaring Exercise RIMPAC 2014 underway.
The theme for this years’ exercise is “Capable, Adaptive, Partners”, a fitting theme that reflects the increasing importance of nations to be able to work together to combat increasing non-traditional threats whether at sea, shore or air. Both RBN ships will be involved in Maritime Interdiction Operations, which concentrates on anti-piracy activities, Surface Firings and several other non-conventional task that the RBN is also involved in, as well as Humanitarioan Aid & Disaster Relief (HADR) operations. Being task into several task force, KDB DARUSSALAM and KDB DARULAMAN will be integrated together with navies from nations such as Japan, the People’s Republic of China, the United States, China, France and Mexico. During the harbour phase of the exercise, the crews of both ships will participate in exchanges such as attending briefings and receptions, involvement in football, volleyball and swimming competitions and taking part in a 5km cross-country race.
Since its inception in 1971, Exercise RIMPAC is now increasingly joint and increasingly involving operational level training. However, it is primarily still maritime-led. This year’s exercise will involve a total of 22 nations, 49 warships, 6 submarines, 14 land forces, over 200 aircraft and over 25,000 personnel. The launching of the exercise this morning is a prelude to the climax set to take place during the sea phase, when the world’s largest naval war games begin.