A Convergence In the Pacific: Allies Flex Muscles During RIMPAC Exercise.

• Author: Carberry, Sean

BELLOWS FIELD BEACH, Hawaii--A hulking Marine Corps CH-53 Super Stallion rumbles up from behind the trees. It roars over the beach and the teal-colored sea off the eastern coast of Oahu. Several hundred yards offshore, it descends to a few feet above the choppy surf, kicking up a wash that envelops the helicopter. Australian troops drop into the temperate water and begin inflating a boat to carry them to shore.

A mile down the beach, just inland from the crashing waves, Australian, Malaysian, Sri Lankan, Tongan and U.S. troops maneuver through a training range of tan-colored buildings designed to look like a village in Iraq or Afghanistan--a legacy of the post-9/11 wars. Blank rounds crack off as the troops conduct reconnaissance and clearing operations to simulate potential urban combat somewhere in the Indo-Pacific region.

These amphibious and urban missions were some of the dozens of operations carried out at the biennial Rim of the Pacific international exercise led by the U.S. Navy. As it has been since the 2012 exercise, RIMPAC 2022's theme was "Capable, Adaptive, Partners." This year, 26 nations, 38 ships, four submarines, 25,000 personnel and more than 170 aircraft participated in five weeks of exercises ranging from submarine hunting to amphibious assaults to blasting ships out of the water.

Vice Adm. Michael Boyle, the commander of RIMPAC, said the exercise's purpose is for like-minded nations to come together, advance their individual and joint capabilities and send a message to the world that there is a large, united force working for peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.

"We're not aiming at any particular country," Boyle told National Defense. "But we're aiming at the globe to say, 'Hey it's real that we have like-minded folks working together.'"

During a visit to RIMPAC, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro made clear who the message was for.

"There are nations in the world that would have one believe that their sovereign territories extend well beyond the established rules and norms," he said during a conversation with reporters at Pearl Harbor.

The 26 nations coming together to train and deepen their interoperability is something "that our adversaries cannot replicate themselves, neither Russia, neither China nor anyone else out there," he continued.

Beyond the geopolitics, each nation comes to RIMPAC with its own capabilities and objectives, Boyle said. Nations with smaller militaries might be interested in practicing disaster response or basic blue-water capabilities like refueling at sea. Others are looking to work on high-end warfighting functions like air-to-air integration and complex amphibious assaults.

It's a constantly evolving exercise designed to deepen interoperability and increase complexity with each iteration so nations "can go home with...