From front, German frigate FGS Baden-Württemberg, Royal Netherlands Navy frigate HNLMS Tromp and the Royal New Zealand Navy auxiliary oiler replenishment ship HMNZS Aotearoa sail in formation off the coast of Hawaii during the Rim of the Pacific exercise in July 2024. (Larissa T. Dougherty/U.S. Navy)
A record 31 nations are set to participate in the massive Rim of the Pacific maritime exercise that kicks off June 24 around the Hawaiian Islands.
The five-week exercise will feature about 40 surface ships, five submarines, 140 aircraft and more than 25,000 personnel, according to an April 18 news release by the Navy’s San Diego-based 3rd Fleet, which leads RIMPAC.
The exercise, held every two years and hosted by Pacific Fleet, is touted as the largest international exercise in the world.
The release does not disclose what countries are slated to attend this summer.
Among the 29 nations joining the 2024 exercise were participants from South and Central America, Europe, Asia, Oceania and the Middle East.
The exercise’s theme this year is “Partners: Integrated and Prepared.”
Vice Adm. John Wade, commander of 3rd Fleet, will lead the exercise’s combined task force, the release states.
Chile will assume the role of deputy commander of the task force, while Japan will be its vice commander. Commanding the exercise’s maritime component will be South Korea. Canada will command the air component.
Exercise events will include amphibious operations, gunnery and missile proficiency, anti-submarine warfare, air defense exercises, military medicine, humanitarian assistance and disaster response, counter-piracy, diving and salvage operations, explosive ordnance disposal and mine clearance.
Previous RIMPAC drills have included the sinking of decommissioned warships by various weapons systems wielded by a multinational force.
The decommissioned USS Dubuque, an amphibious transport dock, was sunk July 11, 2024. A week later, the 820-foot-long former USS Tarawa, an amphibious assault ship the size of a small aircraft carrier, was sunk.
The ships went down in waters 15,000 feet deep about 50 nautical miles off the northern coast of Kauai, the westernmost island in the Hawaiian chain.
Maritime and aerial drones will undoubtedly play a larger role in the exercise as the U.S. Navy continues to experiment with integrating autonomous vehicles into its operations.
RIMPAC could be complicated by the Iran war if that conflict extends into the summer.
Multiple U.S. Navy ships and Marine Corps units normally assigned to the Pacific have been redirected or deployed to the Middle East in the past two months to support the war.
The USS Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group, which includes three ships previously in Japan, moved to the Middle East in March.
The USS Boxer Amphibious Ready Group, which was originally scheduled for deployment in the Indo-Pacific, was diverted toward the Middle East earlier this month.
Two Navy minesweepers based in Japan have also been deployed to that region.
Three U.S. aircraft carriers are currently deployed to the Middle East, the highest number posted there in 23 years.
