RIMPAC to return in 2010

SOURCE: Sharon Rudolph (shannonkona@gmail.com)
SUBHEAD: The Navy has conducted RIMPAC since 1971. The use of mid and low frequency sonar kills thousands of fish and sea mammals each exercise.

 By Erin Miller on 30 April 2010 in West Hawaii Today - (http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/articles/2010/04/30/local/local05.txt)

Image above: The USS Chung Hoon, an Arleigh Burke-class Aegis destroyer, at sea during RIMPAC 2006. From (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Chung-Hoon_%28DDG-93%29_RIMPAC.jpg)

West Hawaii residents may see American and foreign ships off the Big Island’s coast, as well as military jet flights, sometime this summer. The state will be hosting, for the 22nd time, the biennial Rim of the Pacific war games, known as RIMPAC, U.S. Navy 3rd Fleet Public Affairs Office Commander Greg Hicks said. More details about the joint international operation will be available next week, Hicks added. In the past,

West Hawaii residents have reported being alarmed by jet flyovers at relatively low altitudes or in routes not typically prescribed by the Federal Aviation Administration for commercial flights. “There are approved routes that aircraft can take during the exercise,” Hicks said, adding the routes could be low level.

The U.S. Pacific Fleet hosts the exercises in Hawaiian waters, typically during June and July. The event helps countries’ military participants see how they work together, Hicks said.

The Navy has conducted RIMPAC since 1971. In 2008, 35 ships, six submarines, more than 150 aircraft and 20,000 sailors, airmen, marines, soldiers and Coast Guardsmen participated.

In addition to U.S. participants, units from Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, the Netherlands, Peru, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom and Singapore were included in the exercises.

See also:
Island Breath: Judge restricts sonar off California 08/07/07
Island Breath: RIMPAC 2008 uses destructive sonar 4/22/08
Island Breath: RIMPAC 2006 sonar use feared 5/23/06
 Island Breath: RIMPAC 2006 sonar compromise 7/9/06
Island Breath: RIMPAC 2004 Strands whales in Hanlei 09/02/04 .

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