Photo courtesy: Sri Lanka Air Force
13th Air Force Public Affairs| Pacific Air Forces
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Pacific Airlift Rally (PAR) is a biennial, military airlift symposium sponsored by U.S. Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) for states in the Asia-Pacific region. This year marks the eighth iteration of the PAR exercise series which began in 1997. PAR 11 will focus on enhancing airlift interoperability among 21 regional militaries in support of multilateral humanitarian assistance/disaster relief (HA/DR) operations. Exercise-related events include informational seminars and expert briefings, a command post exercise that addresses military airlift support required during natural disasters, and a field training exercise that builds upon the command post exercise.
Tabletop exercise participants include: Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Canada, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Maldives, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, United States and Vietnam. (Brunei's participation has not been confirmed.)
Field training exercise participation will include three United States Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft from the 374th Airlift Wing at Yokota Airlift Wing, Japan; and one C-130 each from the Royal Malaysian Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force and the Sri Lanka Air Force.
Seventy-eight members from the 36th Airlift Squadron at Yokota will test their humanitarian-assistance and disaster-relief abilities in the Airlift Rally which is held every two years and is sponsored by Pacific Air Forces.
"This exercise will help enable the nations involved to deepen their relationships with one another, build trust and strengthen their desire to mutually support one another," said Capt. Anthony Felix, 36th AS assistant pilot flight commander. "Our involvement with the exercise will inspire trust with all nations that are located in the Pacific region."
"The Airmen from Yokota that are participating have a lot of experience going in," said Capt. Bryan Huffman, 36 AS Pacific Airlift Rally mission commander for Yokota. "This training exercise will help improve Yokota's readiness by having us fly airdrop and airlift missions in different scenarios."
The first component of the air rally involves flying exercises, testing the abilities of pilots and crews to perform tasks normally executed in humanitarian relief efforts.
The second part of the rally involves command post operations in which operators and logisticians from several participating countries train on performing the correct actions in the event of a ground-based scenario.
For Captain Huffman, preparing Yokota to respond to mother nature's mood swings is what the Pacific Airlift Rally is all about.
"It's a great opportunity to have a hand in improving Yokota's readiness and ability to provide humanitarian assistance or disaster relief if needed," he said.
© Pacific Air Forces
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