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Multinational Force Completes Training for Defense of Panama Canal

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS050822-02
Release Date: 8/22/2005 10:50:00 AM

By Journalist 2nd Class Lucinda Thierry, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command Public Affairs

PANAMA CITY, Panama (NNS) -- FUERZAS ALIADAS PANAMAX 2005 ended Aug. 17 in a closing ceremony in Panama City, where the naval leadership renewed their commitment to security cooperation and to the defense of the Panama Canal.

The exercise, which took place Aug. 4-17, brought nations together in the common goal of securing the Panama Canal and its pathway to trade throughout the world.

“It (PANAMAX 2005) is one of the most successful exercises I’ve participated in throughout my career,” said Rear Adm. Vinson Smith, commander of the multinational force under Combined Joint Task Force 138.

“At any one time, there were as may as six different countries standing watch together. To me, that was the highlight of this exercise – working together for one cause...to defend the Panama Canal and its strategic importance to the world,” said Smith.

The participating countries for this year’s PANAMAX included host nation Panama, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Honduras, Peru and the United States, as well as observers from Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, France, Mexico and Uruguay.

With each country represented at the closing ceremony, remarks were given by the combined forces' commanders, as well as the combined task group commanders in the Pacific, Caribbean and coastal arenas. Each commander highlighted cooperative achievements, some of which were unprecedented.

“Twenty-four surface units deployed in support of the Panama Canal. [There were] 28 boardings in four days – 18 compliant, eight non-compliant, two opposed,” said Capt. David Costa, Combined Forces Maritime Component commander. “The multinational forces achieved complete Maritime Domain Awareness. Not a vessel got through us without being queried.”

U.S. Navy ships parcipating in PANAMAX included USS Bataan (LHD 5), USS Thomas S. Gates (CG 51), USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG 56), USS Devastator (MCM 9), USS Scout (MCM 6) and HSV Swift (HSV 2). They operated in the Caribbean and Pacific along with ships from Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Panama and Peru.

The ships deployed were challenged to respond to a wide range of exercise scenarios. Peruvian Capt. Jorge Moreno, commander of the Combined Task Group Pacific, said forces he commanded from the various participating countries “operated in harmony” to meet those challenges.

“I am impressed by the professionalism and spirit of cooperation displayed by all participants,” he said.

Involving a series of scenario-driven surface, air and mine countermeasures in response to a simulated threat to the Panama Canal, PANAMAX supports two objectives: first, to ensure freedom of navigation between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and second, to increase cooperation between nations with a critical interest in the canal.

The Panama Canal is the Western Hemisphere’s most important waterway. Nations around the world depend on the free flow of trade and goods through the canal, through which several hundred million tons of cargo pass annually.

The responsibility to evaluate and monitor threats to the Panama Canal belongs to the Panamanian government. However, all participating nations agree that the growing threat of global terrorism demands constant vigilance. PANAMAX, then, trains a multinational force for emergency response in defense of the canal as requested by the government of Panama.