Cobra Gold 2024

FORUM Staff

Cobra Gold 2024 took multilateral cooperation to new heights with 30 nations engaging in or observing key training activities ranging from land, maritime and air drills to space and cyber exercises, humanitarian efforts and cultural exchanges.

“We have expanded the scope of military operations to address the full spectrum of threats across all domains,” Gen. Songwit Noonpackdee, defense chief of the Royal Thai Armed Forces (RTARF), said during opening ceremonies in Rayong, Thailand.

More than 9,500 personnel attended the 43rd iteration of the event, co-hosted by Thailand and the United States from February 27 to March 8, to strengthen relationships among Allies and Partners and bolster regional security commitments.

To demonstrate enhanced interoperability, Cobra Gold featured a combined joint all-domain operation (CJADO) that included more than 2,200 military personnel from the Republic of Korea (ROK) Marine Corps and Navy, the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) and Navy, and the U.S. Air Force, Army, Marine Corps and Navy. Troops staged near-simultaneous amphibious and air assault drills, defeating a simulated blockade; conducted air and maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR); rehearsed combined fires; and incorporated tactical communications from joint forces. The CJADO drill integrated airborne, special forces and maritime ISR; small-boat insertion by reconnaissance and special forces; medical evacuation; airfield seizure; critical infrastructure security; and logistical sustainment.

Personnel from Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore engaged in other combat rehearsals and drills. Australia and India participated in humanitarian aid and disaster relief drills. Military personnel from 21 other countries also joined Cobra Gold, including as observers and planners. RTAF Col. Tawatchai Makpanich, who has attended more than 10 iterations of Cobra Gold, said he appreciated how “joint capabilities are able to leverage one another to achieve the mission.”

Since its inception in 1982, Cobra Gold has evolved from a bilateral maritime exercise between Thailand and the U.S. to one of the world’s longest-running multinational military exercises, embodying decades of cooperation and partnership in the Indo-Pacific.

When Makpanich first attended Cobra Gold in 2006, it was a single service-to-service exercise. Organizers expanded to a joint exercise before including multidomain operations and, most recently, a CJADO with joint all-domain command and control. The CJADO format enabled multiple military branches and multinational forces to work together more effectively. “If we can’t synchronize, we can’t synergize,” Makpanich said.

He said the exercise increased his confidence that partners such as Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the ROK, Singapore, and the U.S. will stand with Thailand during hardships.

He said he also appreciates the opportunity Cobra Gold affords the RTARF to enhance its experience with multidomain operations, which the nation’s Armed Forces began implementing several years ago. “It is greatly beneficial for RTARF to learn advanced techniques, tactics and procedures, and about technologies utilized by the U.S., to ensure the RTARF is more ready and prepared to conduct operations.”

Peacetime, he said, “is the perfect time for training and practicing to ensure that Thailand is ready when the country is threatened.”

He said Cobra Gold is continually evolving and improving. “It’s the nations coming together to share common values that makes the exercise better year after year.”

Space Integration

Among the exercise highlights, Cobra Gold elevated cooperation and interoperability in space operations. Key personnel from Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the ROK, Singapore, Thailand and the U.S. integrated space capabilities into humanitarian and crisis response operations. Organized under a Combined Space Force Coordination Center, the militaries provided space support for exercise scenarios.

“You truly won’t see this anywhere short of a NATO exercise, with that many nations … coming together,” said U.S. Army Col. Jeff Duplantis, who served as the exercise’s combined-joint space integration co-director with Col. Yuta Onda of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, which conducts air and space operations, and cyber and electronic warfare. “The last event where we actually executed something like this, under a United Nations resolution, was Operation Desert Storm [from 1990-91], and it was that big and that large of a scale where you need to provide that support across that larger operation,” Duplantis said. “That’s why we need 30 space professionals from the partner nations to support that big of an operation to remove an aggressor out of a peaceful country it invaded.”

He said the multinational force accomplished two main tasks during Cobra Gold: ensuring freedom of access to combined space capabilities and fostering a shared understanding of how to exploit, disrupt or deny adversary space capabilities.

Space officers also created coordination mechanisms among the militaries, Duplantis said. Activities included combined space planning, coordination and execution of operations, assessing weather effects and space threats, and providing missile warnings.

Participants studied partner nations’ space command structures to determine how to organize a multinational space force that provides defensive and offensive capabilities across domains. Space officers, for example, discussed how a combined joint force would leverage satellite communications and mitigate adversary efforts to interfere with GPS. “We can’t just say if they turn on the GPS jammer, we can’t fight. We have to fight through that, and it is very similar for satellite communications,” Duplantis said.

As part of the exercise’s CJADO, Hawaii Air National Guard members demonstrated a U.S. capability known as a Honey Badger System, which provides defensive space operations, and enabled space operators from partner militaries to experience the technology. Space officers used the system to monitor geosynchronous satellite signals and help resolve satellite communication interference.

Space officers studied doctrine for multidomain offensive space operations, although they did not conduct such operations during the exercise. They also advanced space domain awareness: understanding, knowledge and characterization of friendly and enemy capabilities on orbit. The activities increased shared understanding of safe and responsible space operations, contributing to a more stable space environment, Duplantis said.

“This exercise is a great opportunity, is very important and allows us to communicate and have an impact on space operations,” Onda said. “We really appreciate this and other opportunities to collaborate and conduct exercises like this and other bilateral and trilateral exercises.”

Duplantis said he hopes the space integration capabilities achieved at Cobra Gold 24, which built on smaller space engagements at three previous Cobra Gold exercises, will serve as a model for space cooperation. “It is important to strengthen relationships with Allies and Partners to enhance interoperability and maintain a secure, safe and sustainable space environment,” he said.

RTAF Squadron Leader Chakrit Chantamit, a space integration participant, agreed. “I have learned a lot from each country, especially the U.S., about space. I feel that space operations are not conducted alone. You have to connect with other countries to accomplish the tasks. That is one thing that the Royal Thai Armed Forces or other countries should take away, and how to collaborate with other sections … and other units and elements in all domains. It is the best capability and supports the joint and combined Army, Navy, Marine and Special Operations.”

Other exercises such as Yama Sakura in Japan and Talisman Sabre in Australia have also integrated space capabilities. “Space is something that needs to be brought forth in exercises,” Duplantis said. “We want to make sure our publicly releasable space operations information is imparted on our partner nations that are developing their own space professionals and their own space capabilities to build that partner capacity to help support if we ever have to form a multinational force like this.”

Cyber Advances

Cobra Gold also boosted cyber defense cooperation. For the first time, Ally and Partner officers led multinational teams during the cyber portion of the exercise. About 165 defensive cyber operators from Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the ROK, Singapore, Thailand and the U.S. collaborated to enhance defensive capabilities and promote interoperability in a realistic and challenging training environment. Remote operators from the ROK, Thailand and the U.S. also participated.

The multinational force used the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s Deployable Cyber Range to conduct the defensive operations and also implemented standard operating procedures (SOP). Lt. Col. Yutapong Sodcharoen from the Royal Thai Armed Forces Headquarters and Maj. Will Shockley of the Washington Air National Guard led the cyber exercise at Camp Red Horse in U-Tapao, Thailand. “This is the first time that we have had multinational teams with the ability to work side-by-side together and [it’s] a great opportunity for them to exchange their knowledge and talk to each other more and more,” Sodcharoen said.

Australia, Indonesia, the ROK and Singapore each led a multinational team during the exercise, with the ROK spearheading the largest grouping, which included Japan, Malaysia, Thailand and the U.S. Thailand led the bilateral opposing forces team.

“We wanted our partners to take ownership and leadership over the teams to gain visibility and understanding on their construct and functions and empower our partners to lead these teams,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. Paul Lucero, who led the 2023 Cobra Gold cyber drills.

To enhance synergy, leaders integrated the effort under the Cyber Operations Defense Center, enabling second- and third-order effects to be factored into the exercise, including how civilian infrastructure such as rail, ports, emergencyservices and air traffic control are compromised in a cyberattack.

The teams identified and protected key terrain and critical infrastructure, and validated multinational force SOPs, among other activities to enhance defensive capabilities.

“For the U.S., it is a great learning opportunity to understand how other cyber forces function and the differences of cyber practices,” Lucero said. “In the U.S., we are governed by so many different authorities and laws that govern our practice, structure and organization. However, with smaller forces, you can see a more streamlined and flatter organizational structure with more direct tasking to the tactical teams.”

Singapore, for example, created its Digital and Intelligence Service by consolidating cyber personnel from all its military branches. Under such an arrangement, Lucero said, “You can infuse intel to increase and drive cyber operations and vice versa. To have that identity and culture in-house will be beneficial when they are part of or conduct larger formations and operations.”

Other partners and services also bring unique contributions. “You can see all of us are wearing different uniforms and from different services. This is what makes this exercise interesting,” he said. “It is a cyber melting pot.”

Forging Relationships

Cyber exercise leaders Sodcharoen and Shockley stressed that relationships formed during Cobra Gold among countries, leaders and service members at every level are not only essential for interoperability but also for deepening security commitments. “The objective of Cobra Gold is not only to get to work together or to strengthen our partnerships, but also it is the forum where we can exchange our knowledge and learn from each other, and absolutely, we have built more friendships,” Sodcharoen said.

To see such relationships evolve during the exercise “shows that the nations are starting to work together and are starting to enjoy themselves,” Shockley said.

Japan’s Cobra Gold contingent, which participated in the exercise’s cyber portion for the first time, valued the spirit of cooperation that transcended language, cultures and borders. “Before this exercise, we did not have any kind of connection with the other countries or other units. But here we already have so many relationships, not only for technical matters but also friendship,” said Capt. Masahito Nakajima, chief of cyber operations for the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, which established cyber as a separate branch in 2019. “Multinational operations are so powerful. It is fundamental that we are able to manage anything with the multinational forces. This is big for us.”