Exercise Cope North 2024 recently kicked off in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) to prepare multinational service members for potential challenges they could face. Photo: Supplied
The United States and its allies are taking perceived threats from China and North Korea seriously in the Asia-Pacific region with its largest multinational military exercise to date.
Exercise Cope North 2024 recently kicked off in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) to prepare multinational service members for potential challenges they could face.
Training scenarios included a mass casualty event, requiring military members to operate during times of extreme crisis in a cohesive, integrated front.
Other training facets included US Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornets conducting Agile Combat Employment operations at the Tinian International Airport and combat air forces practising dispersal activities with US, Royal Australian Air Force, Japan Air Self-Defense Force, Royal Canadian Air Force, Republic of Korea Air Force, French Air Force, and Space Force.
"We are here on Tinian because it provides a remote environment for us to train," the 36th Contingency Response Squadron camp commander, Captain Bryan Griswold, said.
"By coming out here, we are able to practice agile combat employment, to include everything we need to survive and operate geographically separated from our home unit."
"One way we become fully operationally capable is by rehearsing extreme scenarios such as aircraft crashes," Royal Australian Air Force warrant officer David England said.
"We know that we all have different terminology and procedures when it comes to these scenarios but through our combined training we are making it so those differences are smoothed out for a potential real world scenario," he said.
Cope North is a proving ground for multinational partners. Each iteration strives to strengthen alliances and partnerships and the warfighting advantage between the six nations.
"We really get to work on our team building and understanding of cultural differences," Griswold said.
"Each time we do this, it provides us with insight on how we can improve our processes. Making us effective partners going forward."