Mexican sailors participated in multinational exercise “RIMPAC 2024”

Mexico City. Personnel from the Mexican Navy (Semar) concluded their participation in the largest multinational maritime exercise in the world, called “RIMPAC 2024”, which took place from June 26 to August 2 of this year, near Hawaii, United States.

This naval exercise “fosters a maritime training environment with the highest standards, prioritizing multinational cooperation and trust, in order to strengthen interoperability between nations,” and was attended by representatives from Germany, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Colombia, South Korea, Denmark, Ecuador, the United States, the Philippines, France, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Peru, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Tonga.

A total force of 38 ships, three submarines, 14 ground forces, more than 150 aircraft and more than 25 thousand personnel participated in this operation.

For its part, the Mexican Navy Task Force was composed of an amphibious warfare ship ARM “Usumacinta” (A-412), a long-range ocean patrol ship ARM “Juárez” (POLA-101), a Panther helicopter, a Combined Staff and a Command Group, an Amphibious Company, Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams; Maritime Search and Rescue (SAR), Search, Location and Neutralization of Explosive Ordnance (BLONAE), as well as naval health personnel, underwater works, totaling 580 naval elements, of which 126 were women.

Among the activities carried out, the ARM ship “Juárez” (POLA-101) conducted naval fire support exercises, anti-submarine and surface warfare theaters, boarding and inspection of vessels, as well as navigation on its flight deck with various aircraft.

Semar highlighted that the Long-Range Ocean Patrol (POLA-101) carried out, for the first time in RIMPAC, various refueling operations at sea to the full storage capacity of the USNS “Washington Chambers” (T-AKE-11) of the United States Navy, thereby projecting the naval power of the Federation at sea for longer, without the need to enter port.

On the other hand, the ARM ship “Usumacinta” (A-412) carried out “exercises in the surface war theater, in addition to carrying out amphibious landing practices, as well as operations with the Panther helicopter for search and rescue at sea, insertion of inspection groups by fast rope with Marine Infantry personnel, medical evacuation exercises and navigation between various foreign and national units.”

Meanwhile, the Semar Amphibious Company carried out military operations in urban and jungle terrain; reconnaissance and surveillance with Special Forces personnel, tactical and combat medicine, as well as jungle, beach, and beach-ship operations for amphibious landing.

As for the expeditionary component, the team carried out exercises to search for, neutralize and disrupt explosive devices, as well as diving. It is worth noting that the Mexican BLONAE team obtained second place in the RIMPAC Explosive Ordnance Disposal competition, out of a total of five countries.