The largest military exercise of its kind in the world has drawn to a close, with Australian participants receiving high praise from their Commander.
Exercise RIMPAC 2010 has seen more than 1,200 ADF personnel involved in a major maritime operation off the coast of Hawaii.
Exercise highlights included missile firings, complex submarine hunting and a major multinational 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.
Successes included commanding the exercise’s Expeditionary Strike Group, which comprising three amphibious ships, up to 15 cruisers and destroyers and a US Marine Corps Taskforce – a total force of almost 1,000 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.
The next RIMPAC will be held in 2012.
But the Collins class submarine was not to be seen at the exercise due to staffing pressures, according a report in The Australian.
“In this case it was decided in 2009 that a submarine would not take part in RIMPAC 2010 due to the Submarine Force 2010 focus on rebuilding the submarine workforce via the Submarine Sustainability Program,” a Defence spokesman said.
“From a materiel availability point of view, the RAN could have deployed at least one submarine but decided not to in order to focus on higher priority training.”