Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Victoria Granado | U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Michelle A. Schmidt (left), 7th Infantry Division Commanding...... read more read more
On Hat Yao training camp’s beach, in sweltering heat, air, land, and sea components of the U.S., Thai, Republic of Korea and Singapore armed forces united and demonstrated their ability to effectively operate together with an amphibious exercise, overlapping multi-domain assets in a complex sequencing of ship-to-shore movements in a simulated beach assault, March 3, 2025.
In joint exercise Cobra Gold, service members of the U.S., Thailand, ROK, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Japan, and Indonesia conduct field exercises, demonstrate disaster response, and undertake humanitarian projects for operational familiarity and enhanced readiness.
A complex multinational amphibious landing exercise, like AMPHIBEX, is evidence of the effectiveness of the multinational approach of Cobra Gold. With four warships, two landing craft, eight aircraft, 18 amphibious vehicles, and over 800 service members involved, the exercise tested the planning, coordination, and integration of multiple landing force capabilities.
U.S. Marine Sgt. Maj. Gerald Fuanari, Marine Rotational Force-Southeast Asia, is impressed with the execution of the exercise.
“The sequencing - how everybody was moving ship to shore,” said Fuanari, “Starting with aircraft, then on to amphibious aircraft, and eventually the landing of the assault force on the [beach landing zone] looked very good.”
U.S. Navy Capt. Hugh Winkle, the U.S. Navy attache for Thailand, believes that all militaries of this region need to have landing force capabilities. Whether it is to address a security challenge or disaster, a collective response from the allied nations needs to be practiced.
“I personally think there is huge value to this training with our allies in their country,” said Winkle. “We speak different languages, but we operate similar equipment. At the end of the day, we have to communicate, plan together, and make real-world decisions.”
The AMPHIBEX is the culmination of many successful training exchanges in tactics, techniques, and procedures during the joint exercise.
“Overall, it’s an extremely effective opportunity to better ourselves as a fighting force,” said Fuanari.
The detailed coordination necessary between the armed forces – from reconnaissance capabilities and personnel, combined air support, command and control, naval and amphibious landing crafts, to multinational service members storming the beach – marks the achievement of a key objective of Cobra Gold, bringing allied and partnered nations working in concert and cultivating a working relationship in the largest joint exercise in mainland Asia.
“We saw a seamless execution of a very complex training exercise involving land, air and sea forces,” said Winkle. “It was a very successful demonstration that we are stronger together and that we can work together to get things done.”
| Date Taken: | 03.03.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 03.14.2025 13:32 |
| Story ID: | 492105 |
| Location: | HAT YAO, TH |
| Web Views: | 98 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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