Thailand and the United States on February 28 jointly kicked off their Cobra Gold military exercise, which will for the first time include training for space disasters, Reuters news agency reported.
A Thai soldier prepares his equipment as they participate in the opening ceremony for the Cobra Gold military exercise (Photo: REUTERS)
Hanoi (VNA) - Thailand and the UnitedStates on February 28 jointly kicked off their Cobra Gold military exercise, which will for thefirst time include training for space disasters, Reuters news agency reported. The annual exercise runs from February 27to March 10, gathering 7,394 military personnel from 30 countries including6,000 from the US. As part of the training, participants willlearn how to combat impacts from space phenomena that affect militaryoperations, such as solar or geomagnetic storms that disrupt communications andsatellite signals, according to the UK news agency. Admiral John Aquilino, Commander of the United StatesIndo-Pacific Command, was quoted as saying that besides trainings on responding to space phenomena, thedrills will include integrated ops across the land, sea, air and cyberspace. “Cobra Gold” is thebiggest military exercise in the Asia-Pacific region with seven participatingcountries in main war exercises: Japan, the US, Thailand,the Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Threecountries - China, India and Australia - will participate in humanitarianaid exercises
Tennations will join as observers. They are Cambodia, Laos, Brazil, Pakistan, Vietnam,Germany, Sweden, Greece, Kuwait and Sri Lanka./.
Cobra Gold, one of the largest multinational military exercises in Asia-Pacific, kicked off in Thailand on February 25, with this year's event taking place under the heavy cloud of a fast-spreading novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2).
Thailand and the United States have decided to scale down their annual joint military exercise Cobra Gold, set to be held from February 20 to March 5, due to the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, according to local media.
Thailand will host the Cobra Gold military drills this year, which will for the first time include training for space disasters, according to the Royal Thai Armed Forces.
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A Thai soldier prepares his equipment as they participate in the opening ceremony for the Cobra Gold military exercise (Photo: REUTERS) 
