Leadership roundtable demonstrates solidified partnership

by Capt. Chris Hoyler
Cope North 13 Public Affairs

2/6/2013 - Cope North 2013 Public Affairs, Andersen AFB -- With nearly 2,000 Airmen from three countries beginning two weeks of intense training at Cope North 2013 Feb. 4, leaders from the U.S. Air Force, Japan Air Self-Defense Force and Royal Australian Air Force discussed the invaluable impact the exercise has on the readiness of their forces.

Gen. Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle, Pacific Air Forces commander, was joined by Lt. Gen. Masayuki Hironaka, JASDF Air Support Command commander, and Air Commodore Anthony Grady, RAAF Air Combat Group commander, in addressing their respective objectives for the exercise and how it increases the combat readiness and interoperability of their forces.

"Cope North has evolved and it has matured to become a better training and interoperability exercise for our nations," Carlisle said.

The humanitarian assistance and disaster relief training, being conducted through Feb. 7 at four airfields on Guam, Tinian and Saipan, has proved particularly vital following the international support for Japan during Operation Tomodachi in March 2011.

"The HA/DR component is particularly important, since it is a real-world requirement that is clearly going to provide disproportionate value when our nations most need it," Grady said.

This year, Republic of Korea Air Force members are observing the HA/DR training for the first time, opening the possibility for participation and an increased presence at future Cope North exercises.

"The statement about the Pacific is not if a natural disaster will happen, but when, given the environment," Carlisle said. "So we see the HA/DR portion of the exercise increasing. There is a potential to invite the Republic of Korea as more than observers, and there is certainly the opportunity to invite other nations that may be interested."

With Cope North now in its third year of tri-lateral involvement, the concept of shared objectives for the training has become central to ensuring success during the exercise and in establishing improved readiness in the event of a real-world tri-lateral military response.

"We have three objectives," Hironaka said. "One is to develop our tactical capabilities. Second is to enhance our interoperability among each country. And third is to bolster the military understanding between the countries."

The Large Force Employment portion of Cope North, which has been part of the exercise since its inception in 1978, is critical in developing a multilateral common operational picture using U.S., Japanese, and Australian airborne and land-based command and control assets. Each day of the exercise sees morning and afternoon rounds of aerial operations involving fighter, refueling and command and control aircraft from all three nations. This provides an optimal training environment to develop multilateral interoperability and combined procedures for air power missions, which include air superiority, interdiction, electronic warfare, tactical airlift, aerial refueling.

"All nations are developing their capabilities," Carlisle said. "Some of them are done in cooperation, like the Joint Strike Fighter, the F-35, and some of them are individual programs, like the Wedgetail for the Australians. We continue to work interoperability, and that's one of the things that Cope North is great at. We get a chance to exercise that interoperability and find out where those glitches are and where things aren't talking to each other when we think they should be.

"We see where those seams are and where those interoperability questions are, and we can get better at making those systems talk to each other. It's not prohibitive, it doesn't stop us from anything, it just forces us to figure out how to make it work," Carlisle added.