MUARA, Wednesday, 20 May 2020- The Initial Planning Conference (IPC) for Exercise RIM OF THE PACIFIC (RIMPAC) 27/20 was successfully conducted through online video conference at Multinational Coordination Centre (MNCC). The IPC was hosted by the US Navy Third Fleet, led by LCDR Simon Dent, Royal Australia Navy as the exercise coordinator for this year’s Exercise RIMPAC. The 27th Series of Exercise RIMPAC will be held from 17th August 2020 to 31st August 2020 in Hawaii, United States of America.
Exercise RIMPAC is the world’s largest international maritime exercise and provides a unique training opportunity that helps participants to foster and sustain cooperative relationships. Present during the meeting to give the opening remarks was CAPT Jay Steingold, RIMPAC Exercise Director. The objective of the exercise is to enhance the interoperability of the combined RIMPAC forces across the full spectrum of military operations in the maritime environment.
10 countries participated in the IPC namely Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore, The Philippines, Japan, South Korea, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the United States of America. 24 ships from 11 different navies are expected to participate in the exercise this year.
In light of the global outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s Exercise RIMPAC will focus only on the sea-phase evolutions. Topic of discussions during the meeting included the execution of the planned evolutions, administrative and logistical requirements and evaluation of procedure in mitigating the risks of COVID-19. The Final Planning Conference (FPC) for the exercise will be held on the 2nd July 2020.
RBN’s first and second participation in Exercise RIMPAC was in 2014 and 2018 respectively. RBN’s involvement in Exercise RIMPAC will ensure the RBN’s dedication in forging multilateral and further enhancing development and capacity building.