Exercise Cope North 2023 Prepares for Kickoff

Personnel belonging to the United States Air Force (USAF), Japan Air Self-Defence Force (JASDF), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and French Air and Space Force are assembling in Guam for Exercise Cope North.

The United States Pacific Air Forces’ largest multilateral exercise will take place from 8 to 24 February and feature approximately 1,000 US personnel and another 1,000 personnel from the other three nations.

The RAAF has deployed a C-27J Spartan aircraft and personnel to the exercise series. Approximately 100 aircraft from the participating nations, will fly 1,200 sorties across seven islands and 10 airfields.

RAAF personnel will train alongside the USAF and the JASDF at Andersen Air Force Base, Won Pat International Airport, and North West Field (Guam); Commonwealth Northern Mariana Islands including Rota, Tinian, and Saipan; Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia; Iwo To, Japan; and the Republic of Palau.

Cope North 23 will provide an excellent opportunity to consolidate and further enhance interoperability with the United States and Japan, said RAAF Task Group Commander, Group Captain Robert Graham.

The multilateral exercise series is focused on trilateral airborne integration for large-force employment, agile combat employment, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief training.

Cope North was established in 1978 as a quarterly bilateral exercise held at Misawa Air Base, Japan and moved to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam in 1999.

This is the thirteenth year that the RAAF is taking part in these exercises.