Cobra Gold war games begin
- Published: 2/02/2010 at 03:29 AM
- Online news: Local News
Rayong - Cobra Gold, the 2010 version of the annual joint exercise among US and regional armed forces, began in Rayong province on Monday.
The US army describes Cobra Gold as the largest of its type in the world. About 11,500 personnel, including 6,000 from the US, will take part this year. The annual war games were opened at a joint ceremony presided over by Adm Wallop Kerdphol, deputy supreme commander, and US Ambassador Eric G John at U-Tapao naval airbase. Singapore, Japan and Indonesia also sent troops, and for the first time South Korean soldiers are participating in the games, scheduled to end on Feb 11. Armed forces from more than 20 countries are participating as observers. Cobra Gold is a regularly scheduled joint and coalition multi-national exercise hosted annually by Thailand. Cobra Gold 2010 marks the 29th anniversary of this regionally significant training event. Mr John earlier told a press conference that Cobra Gold is America's "largest military cooperative effort in the Pacific" and signals "the US commitment to the security of our friends and allies in the Asia-Pacific region." "The training is based on a "computer-simulated command post exercise (CPX), field training exercises linked to the CPX, and humanitarian and civic assistance projects," he said. The joint activity is designed to improve the American Pacific Command's ability to carry out joint and multi-national military operations and to improve the ability of the participating countries' armed forces to work together. The computer-era exercise combines Thai, US, Singaporean, Japanese, Indonesian, and South Korean participants in a coalition grouping. Thai, US, Singaporean, Japanese, Indonesian, South Korean, and United Nations military force personnel will participate in the field training, modelled after the UN's multinational peace support operations scenario. (TNA, agencies)
