Fourteen countries have converged in Hawaiian waters.
The Pacific Rim exercises officially kicked off today and is billed as the largest multi-national maritime event of its kind.
The Japanese Destroyer Atago is one of 32 ships, along with five submarines and 170 aircraft participating in the RIMPAC exercises this year. In the weeks ahead, participating countries including Thailand, Australia, even France, will test their maritime warfare skills by working with each other.
"We will learn and get better by exchanging crew members we'll be doing cross decking and just the simple fact of inter-operating period," said Combined Task Force Vice Admiral Richard Hunt.
Since it started in 1971, RIMPAC exercises have taken place every two years. Officials say Hawaii has been the ideal location for such an event, in part because the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai is such an important component. Other countries know that the training they will get here will be top notch.
"They recognize that this is the best place to go for training. In a resource constrained economically challenged environment, countries have other choices and for them to choose to come and participate here says a lot about Hawaii," said Admiral Patrick Walsh, Pacific Fleet Commander.
Admiral Walsh says Hawaii offers the best environment that supports operations on the ocean, underneath it, in the air, as well as on land. That's why it attracts so many countries, which should also bring an economic boon to the state.
"To the people of Hawaii what this means is you'll see an influx of about 20 to 22 thousand people all who have been recently paid that would like to come spend time in the local economy," said Walsh.
RIMPAC exercises will continue through August first.
