The Navy said that planning is being finalized for the 2024 biennial Exercise Rime of the Pacific (RIMPAC), due to run from June 27 to Aug. 1 around the Hawaiian Islands.
This year’s event will include 29 countries, 40 surface ships, over 150 aircraft and more than 25,000 personnel. It is hosted by the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and led by Vice. Adm. John Wade, commander of the U.S. 3rd Fleet, serving as combined task force (CTF) commander.
The 29 participating countries will include Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, South Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Serving under Wade, for the first time in RIMPAC, Chilean Navy Commodore Alberto Guerrero will serve as deputy commander of the CTF while Rear Adm. Kazushi Yokota of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force will serve as vice commander.
Participating U.S. ships will include the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN‑72), Wasp-class landing helicopter deck ship USS Essex (LHD‑2); Arleigh Burke-class destroyers USS Fitzgerald (DDG‑62), Gridley (DDG‑101), Sampson (DDG‑102), Spruance (DDG‑111), W. P. Lawrence (DDG‑110) and Chafee (DDG‑90); Zumwalt-class destroyer USS Michael Monsoor (DDG‑1001); Ticonderoga-class cruiser USS Mobile Bay (CG‑53); Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Tulsa (LCS 16); Los Angeles-class attack submarines USS Charlotte (SSN-766) and Topeka (SSN-754) and the Safeguard–class rescue and salvage ship USNS Grasp (T‑ARS‑51).
Notably, RIMPAC will also feature the Ghost Fleet Overlord unmanned surface vessels Nomad and Ranger as well as the USV test vehicles Sea Hunter and Sea Hawk.
International participants will include two Royal Canadian Navy Halifax-class frigates; the Royal Australian Navy HMAS Canberra (L02) landing helicopter dock ship and Anzac-class frigate; one South Korean amphibious assault ship and two destroyers; a Japanese destroyer and the JS Izumo (DDG-183) light aircraft carrier; a Philippine Navy destroyer; a Mexican Navy frigate and tank landing ship; a Malaysian corvette; Singapore frigate; Peruvian Navy corvette; an Indonesian Navy frigate; a Chilean Navy frigate; a French Navy frigate; an Indian Navy frigate; a South Korean submarine; and one Royal Australian Navy submarine.
U.S. Pacific Fleet said this iteration of RIMPAC will include multi-domain warfare in various scenarios including anti-submarine warfare, multi-ship surface warfare, multinational amphibious landings and “multi-axis defense of the carrier strike group against live forces.”
RIMPAC will also include the exercise’s largest humanitarian aid and disaster relief exercise with eight countries, five ships, five landing craft, five aircraft, multiple and forces and over 2,500 participants including Hawaiian government personnel.
“RIMPAC offers a uniquely complex and challenging multinational environment for forces to train in areas where common national objectives overlap,” RIMPAC coordinator Royal Australian Navy Lt. Cmdr. Timothy Gill said in a statement.