Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base Thailand:
Air Force units from the U.S. Air Force, Thailand and Singapore, as well as the U.S. Marine Corps, are honing their combat skills in exercise Cope Tiger from 16 to 27 February 2004 in Thailand.
More than 1,370 personnel, including 770 U.S. service members and 600 from Thailand and Singapore, are participating in the annual, joint/combined multilateral exercise in Korat Thailand.
"Cope Tiger helps demonstrate our commitment to peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region," said Col. George Daniels, senior U.S. Air Force representative and director of the "Cope Tiger" exercise. "The Cope Tiger exercise will improve readiness and interoperability, as well as help maintain solid relationships with nations such as Thailand and Singapore in the region as we train side-by-side with their Air Force".
Cope Tiger 2004 is conducted in 2 phases in the Asia-Pacific region. The first phase ended at Paya Lebar Air Base, Singapore, in December, and was a seminar/command post exercise where aircrews from Thailand, Singapore and the US participating and exercising an air operations center.
The second phase is the flying training exercise, which is taking place at the Korat Royal Air Force Base about 110 miles northeast of Bangkok, Thailand.
The flying training portion of the Cope Tiger exercise promotes closer relations and enables air force units in the region to sharpen air combat skills and practice interoperability with U.S. Forces, Colonel Daniels added, who is the 13th Air Force director of operations at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam.
American units participating in the Cope Tiger exercise in Korat Thailand include the 90th Fighter Squadron and 962nd Airborne Air Control Squadron, Elmendorf AFB, Alaska; 909th Air Refueling Squadron and 961st AACS, Kadena AB, Japan; Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 212, Marine Corps Air Station, Iwakuni; Marine Aerial Refueling Squadron 152, Marine Corps Air Station, Futema, Japan; and Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 4, Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station, N.C.
