KORAT ROYAL THAI AIR FORCE BASE, Thailand –
The skies over central Thailand are a little quieter now that Exercise Cope
Tiger 15 has ended.
The exercise, which ran from March 9 through 20,
focused on multinational interoperability and regional
partnerships.
Aviation and ground units from the United States, the
Kingdom of Thailand and the Republic of Singapore participated in the annual
multilateral aerial exercise.
Cope Tiger 15 was aimed at increasing
readiness, cooperation and interoperability among security forces, contributing
to maritime security, counterterrorism, search and rescue and humanitarian
disaster relief efforts in the Asia-Pacific region.
Speaking on the
importance of the exercise, U.S. Air Force Exercise Director Col. Paul Johnson
said, without exercises like Cope Tiger, going into an "operation or
humanitarian assistance event you will have to hit the ground at a very slow
crawl."
By training together, this allows the three air forces to "hit
the ground running," Johnson continued.
"We value the opportunity to
train alongside our counterparts from Thailand and the United States in the
exercise," Said Republic of Singapore air force Col. Kevin Goh, Singaporean
exercise director. "The successful conduct of the exercise is testament to our
strong defense relationship and interoperability between the three participating
countries."
While F-15s and E-3s from Kadena Air Base, Japan, were
training with their Thai and Singaporean counterparts in Korat, C-130s from
Yokota Air Base, Japan, and two C-17s from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson,
Alaska, and Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, were training at Udon Thani,
Thailand.
"[These aircraft] have been integral to the [live fire
exercises]," Johnson said. "They have been integrated into the planning; they
have been conducting airdrops and high altitude parachute operations as
well.
"Even outside of the LFEs, they have been flying at night getting
good [night vision goggle] training out there and all of this is being done with
our Thai and Singaporean counterparts," Johnson continued. "I know for a fact
we had our C-130s and our C-17s dropping Thai parachutists out the back of their
aircraft and onto [drop zones] that are both close to here and up at Udon
Thani."
Approximately 390 U.S. personnel participated in Cope Tiger 2015,
with approximately 1,000 service members from Thailand and Singapore. The
multilateral exercise involved a combined total of 84 aircraft and 38 air
defense assets from the three contributing countries. Participating U.S. Air
Force units included Pacific Air Forces Headquarters from JBPHH, the 44th
Fighter Squadron and the 961st Airborne Air Control Squadron from Kadena, the
517th Airlift Squadron from JBER, the 36th Airlift Squadron from Yokota and the
535th Airlift Squadron from JBPHH.