Exercise Cope North under way in Guam

The Royal Australian Air Force has deployed aircraft to take part in Exercise Cope North in Guam.

Thirteen aircraft in total - 11 F/A-18A/B Classic Hornets, an E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft, and a KC-30A multirole tanker transport – are taking part in the exercise at Andersen Air Force Base.

The joint military exercise has brought together forces from Australia, the US and Japan to improve combat readiness, humanitarian assistance procedures and interoperability.

Cope North provides a scenario that develops multilateral interoperability and coalition procedures in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, air power missions, including air superiority, close air support, interdiction, electronic warfare, tactical air mobility, and airborne command and control. 

Humanitarian assistance, disaster relief exercises and strike mission training will be conducted during the first week, while air combat tactics and large force employment training will be the focus of the second week. 

The Australian commander for Exercise Cope North, Group Captain Hinton Tayloe, said: ‘More than 2,300 military personnel and approximately 100 aircraft from the Royal Australian Air Force, US Air Force, US Navy and Japan Air Self-Defense Force are participating in this exercise.

‘Exercise Cope North allows us to continue to refine our procedures to operate more effectively alongside our military partners in the region.’