NAVAL BASE GUAM –
Maritime forces from Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and Air Force (RAAF), Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), Royal New Zealand Navy, Republic of Korea (ROK) Navy, U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps begin multilateral maritime exercise Pacific Vanguard 2025 with an opening ceremony on Aug. 25.
The cooperative exercise brings together service members from five Indo-Pacific nations to enhance their skills in maritime operations, anti-submarine warfare, air warfare, and advanced maneuvering scenarios to improve overall interoperability between the forces. This year’s Pacific Vanguard features greater participation from other nations and joint forces compared to last year’s iteration.
“We are always grateful for the opportunity to deploy to Guam and conduct these exercises with like-minded partners,” said Capt. Arran Moore, commanding officer of RAAF’s No. 92 Wing, “Exercise Pacific Vanguard represents essential training for our workforce, allowing them to validate our skills in high-end air-maritime integration, refine tactics techniques and procedures, and ensure we have contemporary experience in scenarios that we cannot recreate on our own. The Royal Australian Air Force places a high value on training like Exercise Pacific Vanguard where we build experience and people-to-people links that ensure we can collectively respond to shared security challenges with our partners.”
Additionally, the exercise provides personnel from the five nations’ forces ashore opportunities to build shared multi-domain awareness and develop relationships that will help streamline combined operations in response to any crisis.
"Pacific Vanguard is a valuable opportunity for us to demonstrate our high-end tactical capabilities," said Rear Adm. Natsui Takashi, commander, Japan-Maritime Self-Defense Force Escort Flotilla Four. "Through Pacific Vanguard, the JMSDF can enhance our interoperability with the participating countries and contribute to the overall peace and stability in Indo-Pacific region. A free and open Indo-Pacific promotes the prosperous socio-economic activity that has benefited the region. Our deepening partnership with the Republic of Korea Navy, Royal Australian Navy and U.S. Navy in Guam symbolizes this stability and shared deterrence that upholds peace in the Indo Pacific."
Participating assets include the RAAF’s P-8A Poseidon aircraft, JMSDF’s Hyūga-class helicopter destroyer JS Ise (DDH 182), Mashū-class replenishment ship JS Ōmi (AOE 426), Takanami-class destroyer JS Suzunami (DD 114), ROK Navy’s Chungmugong Sun-Sin-class destroyer ROKS Wang Geon (DDH 978), the U.S. Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Higgins (DDG 76), Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ship USNS Richard E. Byrd (T-AKE 4) and P-8A Poseidon aircraft.
“Pacific Vanguard training is the best opportunity to strengthen interoperability between multinational navies and enhance combined operational capabilities,” said Capt. Ahn Woo Jin, commanding officer of Wang Geon. “I will treat the training as an actual mission and will utilize it as an opportunity to improve combat readiness posture.”
“Exercises like Pacific Vanguard are when our ties to our allies and partners are best displayed,” said Rear Adm. Eric Anduze, Commander, Carrier Strike Group Five. “The ability to come together seamlessly, and demonstrate the capacity to integrate in all aspects of maritime operations, is a testament to the abilities of every country involved. We all share a commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, and Pacific Vanguard is the latest example of that unwavering belief.”
The U.S. military and its allies and partners continually operate in designated land, air, and sea areas of the Mariana Islands to safely train service members in equipment use, tactics, joint operations, and humanitarian aid missions.
U.S. 7th Fleet is the U.S. Navy's largest forward-deployed numbered fleet and routinely interacts and operates with allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region.