Photo Archive

A Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18 Hornet from 425 Tactical Fighter Squadron gets refueled by a RCAF CC-130 Hercules air-to-air refueller from 435 Transport and Rescue Squadron over the Pacific Ocean near Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Over the Pacific Ocean

1,400 Canadian sailors, soldiers, and airmen and airwomen participate in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2012 combined and joint exercise taking place near the Hawaiian Islands from June 29 to August 3. Scheduled and coordinated by the U.S. Navy Third Fleet, RIMPAC also offers Canada the senior members of the Canadian Forces the opportunity to assume positions of leadership, further enhancing Canada's ability to work with other nations of the Asia-Pacific region. RIMPAC 2012 involves forces from Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, Tonga, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) is the world's largest international maritime exercise, designed to prepare military forces to work together in missions ranging from providing humanitarian aide to full combat operations. RIMPAC began as an annual exercise in 1971 and since 1974 has been scheduled every other year. The endurance of exercise demonstrates the value of bringing international forces together to train and improve their ability to operate in a joint and combined multi-national force environment. Canada, along with only Australia and the United States, has participated in RIMPAC since its inception.

Canadian Forces photo by : MCpl Marc-André Gaudreault