Report on U.S. Military Power 2012 (36)

Exercise Gold Cobra 2012. From February 7th to 17th, Exercise Gold Cobra 2012, a multinational joint exercise was held in Thailand. 13,000 service members from the U.S., Thailand, Japan, the ROK, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Malaysia took part in the exercise. Australia, France, Canada, U.K., Bangladesh, the Philippines, and Vietnam were invited to work out the scenario of the exercise. New Zealand, Brunei, China, Laos, the Netherlands, Russia, South Africa, East Timor, UAE, and Myanmar were invited to send observers. The Third Expeditionary Force of the U.S. Marine Corps, which is stationed in Okinawa, played a major role in the exercise which staged such subjects as live-ammunition firing and evacuation of non-combatants.

Exercise Eager Lion 2012: From May 7th to 30th, Exercise Eager Lion 2012, a multinational joint military exercise led by the U.S. took place in Southern Jordan. 12,000 military personnel from 19 countries participated in the exercise which is the largest ever military drill in the past decade in the Middle East.

Exercise Initial Link: the U.S. joined many Middle Eastern countries in Exercise Initial Link from April 8th to April 18th. The exercise was aimed at fostering defense cooperation among participating countries.

Mine-sweeping drill in the Persian Gulf. From September 16th to 27th, the U.S., together with some 20 other countries, conducted a large-scale mine-sweeping drill in the Persian Gulf. The scenario of the drill is that extremist groups have placed huge numbers of underwater mines in the strategic waters in the Middle East, namely, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and the Gulf of Oman. Eight mine-sweeping ships from the U.S. took part in the exercise, together with USS Ponce, a logistics and support ship. four MH-53 Sea Stallions were also involved in the exercise.

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