JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii -- Air forces from Australia, Japan, and the United States will participate in Cope North 2022 (CN22) Feb. 2-18, 2022, a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR), large force employment, and aerial combat training exercise.
The exercise kicks off with a HA/DR training event to reinforce the three countries’ combined ability, and interoperability, to support the Indo-Pacific region during a natural disaster. Operations will take place at Andersen Air Force Base and Northwest Field on Guam; the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, including Rota, Saipan, and Tinian; Palau; and the Federated States of Micronesia.
Fighter aircraft from the U.S. Air Force, Japanese Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF), and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) will conduct aerial refueling, close air support, and counter-air missions. These training missions will conclude with a large force employment exercise designed to enhance readiness and interoperability among the three countries.
Participants will also exercise Agile Combat Employment, or ACE, concepts during Cope North 22. ACE is Pacific Air Forces’ model to project combat power via a network of distributed operating locations throughout the Indo-Pacific. Over 2,000 sorties are planned for CN22 across seven islands and 10 airfields.
More than 2,500 U.S. Airmen, Marines, and Sailors will train alongside about 1,000 combined JASDF and RAAF counterparts in CN22. Approximately 130 aircraft from over 30 units will fly in the exercise.
Eight additional countries will be sending 16 officers to participate in the International Observers Program, which gives international field grade officers the opportunity to observe key parts of the exercise in the hope that they will participate with aircraft in the future. France and India are both participating in Cope North this year—with India participating for the first time ever—after having observed the exercise in previous years.
Established in 1978 as a quarterly bilateral exercise held at Misawa Air Base, Japan, Cope North moved to Andersen AFB in 1999. It is U.S. Pacific Air Forces’ largest multilateral exercise.
For more information about Cope North and U.S. Pacific Air Force’s participation, call U.S. Pacific Air Force Public Affairs at (808) 448-3225 or (808) 221-6148.