The Philippine Navy (PN)’s first missile-frigate, BRP Jose Rizal (FF-150), has safely arrived on Saturday (Manila time) at the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii for the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise set from August 17 to 31. FF150 arrived in the designated RIMPAC exercise area to form part the Task Group (TG) along with other participating naval ships. The deployment of BRP Jose Rizal , the country’s first missile-frigate, to the US-led Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercises would test its system and help identify and correct design flaws, an official of the Philippine Navy said Monday.
This is to observe health and biosafety protocols in ensuring the welfare of around 120 sailors and aviators due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In line with coronavirus disease (Covid-19) protocols, the PN contingent was not allowed to get off the ship. Unique for this years exercise, RIMPAC20 will be executed purely at sea to ensure the safety of all participating military forces amid the ongoing pandemic. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic the Rim of the Pacific 2020 exercise will be toned-down. Ten countries with 22 ships, one submarine and approximately 5,300 personnel will take part in this years exercise.
The participating nations for this years RIMPAC are Australia, Brunei, Canada, France, Japan, New Zealand, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore and the United States. The two-week naval exercises, which is scheduled on August 17-31 in Honolulu, Hawaii, will give additional training to Navy personnel on the four dimensions of modern naval warfare which include anti-air, anti-surface, anti-submarine and electronic warfare. RIMPAC20 is led by the United States Pacific Fleet and is considered as the world’s premier and largest joint and combined naval exercise that covers the entire spectrum of naval operations ranging from disaster response and maritime security operations to sea control and complex war fighting.
