JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii -- The Pacific Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) Center hosted a summit to collaborate and raise awareness of global IAMD issues, Sept. 10-12.

The purpose of the event – in its fifth iteration – is to provide a forum to exchange information; share lessons learned and best practices across the three Integrated Air and Missile Defense Centers: Pacific Integrated Air and Missile Defense Center, European Command Integrated Air and Missile Defense Center and U.S. Air Forces Central Command Integrated Air and Missile Defense Center.

“IAMD is imperative to defending the force and maximizing the effectiveness and efficiency of resources, including our allies and partners,” said Col. David Fisher, Pacific IAMD Center director. “A conference like this allows us to hear best practices from services and tackle any problems together.”

During the three-day conference, 30 participants received briefings on regional and global threats, emerging U.S. integrated air and missile defense capabilities, and were updated by the different Integrated Air and Missile Defense Centers around the globe.

The Indo-Pacific Theater is home to not only 60 percent of the world’s population, facilitating 44 percent of the world’s trade. There are large militaries in the region, militaries with ballistic missile and nuclear weapons capabilities.

“I have a responsibility to defend the assets of my command; the people, the equipment, and the logistics,” said Gen. CQ Brown, Jr., Pacific Air Forces commander, during his comments to participants. “The value of venues, such as this one, that allow professionals from each of the IAMD Centers to come together and collaborate on ways forward cannot be overstated.”

Brown noted the United States is not alone, saying we work with our allies and partners, by uniting over mutual values, interests and security to preserve peace and stability in the region.

“We need to be able to defend our forces alongside our allies and partners,” said Col. Brandon Casey, Indo-Pacific Command Space and Integrated Air and Missile Defense Division chief. “Warfighting is a joint effort and IAMD is a joint problem leveraging joint capability. Yes, each component has their own capability, but you put us all together and include our allies and partners, to create that joint effect.”

Along with briefings and updates, attendees were able to split up and conduct roundtable discussions to further understanding and allow for additional dialogue on the future of integrated air and missile defense.

“The future challenges in Integrated Air and Missile Defense are expected to increase exponentially in complexity,” said Fisher. “We owe it to our services and our nation to maximize and synchronize our joint and coalition efforts to address those challenges.”

The Pacific Integrated Air and Missile Defense Center, established in October 2014, enhances joint IAMD executive knowledge and expands partner integration throughout in the Indo-Pacific region by sharing operational decision making processes with allied and partner leaders.