Cope North is an annual multinational military exercise taking place in and around Guam. [1] The first exercise took place in 1978. [2]
In 2016 in addition to US, Japanese and Australian forces South Korea, the Philippines and New Zealand participated. [3] This was the largest ever Cope North exercise. [4] 2017 [5] and 2018 [6] [7] [8] saw a return to the usual participants - US, Japanese and Australian forces.
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States; in Oceania, it is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands and the largest island in Micronesia. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, and the most populous city is Dededo.
USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) is a Nimitz-class, nuclear-powered supercarrier in the service of the United States Navy. As the ninth ship of her class, she is named in honor of Ronald W. Reagan, President of the United States from 1981 to 1989.
USNS Mercy (T-AH-19) is the lead ship of her class of hospital ships in non-commissioned service with the United States Navy. Her sister ship is USNS Comfort (T-AH-20). She is the third US Navy ship to be named for the virtue mercy. In accordance with the Geneva Conventions, Mercy and her crew do not carry any offensive weapons, though defensive weapons are available.
USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG-54) is the fourth Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer. Curtis Wilbur was named for Curtis D. Wilbur, forty-third Secretary of the Navy, who served under President Calvin Coolidge. In 2016 she was based at Yokosuka, Japan, as part of Destroyer Squadron 15.
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The Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) is the first and only tri-service theater command of the Indian Armed Forces, based at Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a Union Territory of India. It was created in 2001 to safeguard India's strategic interests in Southeast Asia and the Strait of Malacca by increasing rapid deployment of military assets in the region. It provides logistical and administrative support to naval ships which are sent on deployment to East Asia and the Pacific Ocean.
The String of Pearls is a geopolitical theory on potential Chinese government intentions in the Indian Ocean region (IOR). It refers to the network of Chinese military and commercial facilities and relationships along its sea lines of communication, which extend from the Chinese mainland to Port Sudan in the Horn of Africa. The sea lines run through several major maritime choke points such as the Strait of Mandeb, the Strait of Malacca, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Lombok Strait as well as other strategic maritime centres in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Maldives, and Somalia.
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