World's largest maritime drills set to start in Hawaii

HONOLULU - The marines from 26 nations will arrive at Hawaii this week to kick-start world's largest maritime exercises.

The maritime drills named 'the rim of the Pacific or RIMPAC' will bring largest vessels sailing on the Oahu coast along with the opportunities of unique training for the participants under the command of United States.

The exercises will be held from June 27 to August 2nd  in the Pacific Ocean.

The training is "designed to foster and sustain cooperative relationships that are critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world's interconnected oceans," Navy officials say.

The marines of 26 nations with 47 surface ships, five submarines, more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel will participate in RIMPAC 2018, starting on Wednesday.

Participating countries include forces from Australia, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, the Republic of Korea, the Republic of the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, the United Kingdom, the United States and Vietnam.

Chinese marines were not invited for participation due to its ongoing militarization of the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. The U.S. Department of Defense rescinded an invitation for China to participate in the U.S.-led exercises this year.

Brazil, Israel, Sri Lanka and Vietnam are participating in the exercises for the first time.

This year marks the 26th exercise in the series since it began in 1971.

The combined live field training exercise will included tactical level and limited operational level training and will feature live firing of a Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) from a US Air Force aircraft, surface to ship missiles by the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, and a Naval Strike Missile (NSM) from a launcher on the back of a Palletized Load System (PLS) by the US Army.