RIMPAC — ADF shines as world’s largest maritime exercise comes to an end in Hawaii

The largest Mil­i­tary exer­cise of its kind in the world has drawn to a close, with Aus­tralian par­tic­i­pants receiv­ing high praise from their Com­man­der.

Rim of the Pacif­ic Exer­cise (RIMPAC) 2010 has seen more than 1200 Aus­tralian Defence Force (ADF) per­son­nel involved in a mas­sive Mar­itime oper­a­tion off the coast of Hawaii. 

The high­lights for the ADF con­tin­gent includ­ed mis­sile fir­ings, com­plex sub­ma­rine hunt­ing and a major mul­ti nation­al amphibi­ous assault, planned and coor­di­nat­ed by an Aus­tralian com­mand team. 

The head of Australia’s con­tin­gent, Com­modore Stu­art May­er says this has been the most suc­cess­ful RIMPAC for the ADF since the exer­cise began in the ear­ly 1970s. 

“It is a com­mon cliché to say that every exer­cise is the best one ever. But in this instance it is very like­ly true,” CDRE May­er said. 

Amongst these suc­cess­es include com­mand­ing the exercise’s Expe­di­tionary Strike Group, which com­prised of 3 amphibi­ous ships, up to 15 cruis­ers and destroy­ers and a US Marine Corps Task­force – a total force of almost 1000 men and women. The exer­cise also saw the world’s first com­bined joint Har­poon Block II mis­sile fir­ing from HMAS War­ra­munga involv­ing an RAAF AP-3C Ori­on and ships from Cana­da and the US. The RAN also com­plet­ed the suc­cess­ful fir­ing of sur­face to air mis­siles demon­strat­ing the capa­bil­i­ty of HMAS War­ra­munga and HMAS New­cas­tle against com­plex threats.. 

“Whether it was the coor­di­nat­ed Har­poon fir­ing from War­ra­munga in com­bi­na­tion with the RAAF P3 Ori­ons; the first splash of Amphibi­ous Assault Vehi­cles from HMAS Kan­im­bla; 2 RAR oper­at­ing along­side US Marines or our divers rais­ing a sunken tug from the bot­tom, all our sol­diers, sailors and air­men have per­formed at an impres­sive level.” 

“We have con­duct­ed com­plex war fight­ing in a chal­leng­ing mul­ti-nation­al envi­ron­ment. We have def­i­nite­ly got our money’s worth out of RIMPAC.” 

Approx­i­mate­ly 1200 ADF per­son­nel from the Roy­al Aus­tralian Navy, Army and Roy­al Aus­tralian Air Force attend­ed the 14 nation strong exer­cise in the waters off Hawaii. The next RIMPAC will be held in 2012. 

Press release
Min­is­te­r­i­al Sup­port and Pub­lic Affairs,
Depart­ment of Defence,
Can­ber­ra, Australia 

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