Humanitarian Assistance? Regional Security? Whatever the Scenario, Defender Pacific Isn’t a War Game, Says General
Humanitarian Assistance? Regional Security? Whatever the Scenario, Defender Pacific Isn’t a War Game, Says General by Jen Judson – Defense News
The first year for the military exercise Defender Pacific will be smaller in size than its sister drill in Europe in 2020, but it will still be one of the largest exercises conducted by the U.S. Army and its partners and allies in the region since Team Spirit drills in South Korea ended in the early 1990s, according to acting U.S. Army Pacific Commander Lt. Gen. John “Pete” Johnson.
The Army will flow roughly 12,000 soldiers into the region next year around September for the exercise, Johnson told Defense News in an interview ahead of the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference.
The exercise is fueled by a rising China, characterized in the National Defense Strategy as a long-term, strategic competitor of the United States. The NDS lays out a world where great power competition rather than counterterrorism will drive the Defense Department’s decision-making and force structure…
