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Thailand, US, Singapore to Hold Joint Military Exercise
Cobra Gold 01, a multilateral exercise involving armed forces from the United States, Thailand and Singapore, will be held in April and May in northern Thailand, a senior Thai military officer announced here Thursday.
Sommai Vichaworn, chief of staff of the Royal Thai Supreme Command, told a press conference that there will be altogether 10, 813 armed forces, 45 aircraft and 20 ships participating in the 20th Cobra Gold exercise, which will be headquartered in northern Thailand's Pitsunulok province.
The objectives of the exercise are to maintain readiness and interoperability of the Thai armed forces in their joint and combined corporations with their U.S. and Singaporean counterparts and maintain good relationships among the three participating nations, Sommai said.
The exercise will also help improve the Thai armed forces' ability in cooperating in peace enforcement operations with other countries and conduct humanitarian assistance programs, he said.
The multilevel exercise consists of four scopes, including cross training exercise, which is aimed to prepare military personnel for field and marine exercise, and command post exercise, which is designed to enable military personnel to be ready for crisis management and disaster relief.
Field and marine training exercise is aimed to familiarize military personnel in a particular subject while humanitarian assistance operation is designed to provide assistance to people living in the areas where the exercises take place, Sommai said.
Eight countries, the Philippines, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Sri Lanka, Mongolia and Singapore, were given approval to be observers of the exercise.
Cobra Gold is the largest bilateral military exercise in Southeast Asia since it was first held in 1982 in Thailand. In 2000, Cobra Gold exercise transformed from a bilateral to a multilateral exercise with the participation of Singaporean Armed Forces.
There will be 55 Singaporean military personnel participating in the exercise this year.
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