VZCZCXYZ0004
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBK #1670/01 1540922
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 020922Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY BANGKOK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3227
INFO RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA PRIORITY 6942
RUEHGP/AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE PRIORITY 4738
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 0775
RHFJSCC/COMMARFORPAC  PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/CJCS WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFISS/HQ PACAF HICKAM AFB HI PRIORITY
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L BANGKOK 001670 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/02/2018 
TAGS: PREL PTER MARR MOPS PINS PHUM TH
SUBJECT: COBRA GOLD INTEGRAL TO USG ALLIANCE STRUCTURE IN 
EAST ASIA 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Eric G. John, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1.  (C)  Summary.  Cobra Gold, America's largest multilateral 
exercise in Asia, is much more than a bilateral exercise with 
Thailand.  In that Thailand provides good training 
infrastructure, large areas for unrestricted live fire 
operations, and access to bombing ranges -- all in short 
supply in Asia -- Cobra Gold allows U.S. troops to conduct 
training activities not found elsewhere.  Furthermore, the 
exercise is a symbol of American engagement in Asia and an 
opportunity to further our military goals in Southeast Asia. 
Our annual Cobra Gold exercise has just concluded; the quick 
and significant expansion of relief operations at Utapao and 
our military's ability to interact rapidly with Thai 
counterparts during recent post-cyclone relief operations to 
Burma underscored the results of our joint combined 
exercises, training and cooperation.  End Summary. 
 
MUCH MORE THAN A BILATERAL EXERCISE 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (C) Cobra Gold is the largest joint/combined military 
exercise in Thailand and America's largest multilateral 
exercise in the Asia Pacific Region.  Cobra Gold 2008 marked 
a milestone in that it was the first time that all 
participating nations have taken part in all facets of the 
exercise.  In the 27th year of Cobra Gold, nearly 12,000 
soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines from the U.S., 
Thailand, Singapore, Japan and Indonesia participated in 
activities throughout Thailand.  Cobra Gold is vital to our 
 
strategic interests in Asia, including advancing regional 
security cooperation and engagement, strengthening our joint 
and combined capabilities and readiness, and posturing forces 
for agile and responsive deployment.  Cobra Gold also 
strengthens our relationships with key partners by enhancing 
multilateralism, promoting a greater role for Japan and 
Singapore in the region, and assisting our goal of developing 
a more full and normal military relationship with Indonesia. 
 
¶3. (C) The strength of our military relationship with 
Thailand is the result of extensive security cooperation, 
particularly our rewarding exercise program.  Due to this 
close relationship, the U.S. is able to take advantage of 
unique live fire training opportunities and ready access to 
Utapao Naval Air Base, which became a hub for our regional 
tsunami assistance program after the December 2004 tsunami 
and for relief flights to Burma after the recent cyclone. 
 
¶4. (C) The majority of Cobra Gold participants came from the 
U.S. and Thailand.  Singapore, Indonesia and Japan, however, 
also sent robust teams to take part in the three elements of 
the exercise - a Command Post Exercise (CPX), a Field 
Training Exercise (FTX) and Humanitarian Civic Action (HCA). 
Cobra Gold was a constructive challenge to U.S. and other 
forces despite some U.S. forces being diverted to aid cyclone 
Nargis relief operations.  Among the milestones of the 
exercise were the first multilateral ground FTX, the first 
multilateral engineer-constructed humanitarian civic action 
projects, and complete staffing of an exercise "UN 
peacekeeping headquarters" by non-US personnel under a Thai 
commander. 
 
UNIQUE FIELD TRAINING EVENTS 
---------------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) As the largest multilateral military exercise in Asia, 
Cobra Gold included wide-ranging land, sea, and air training 
activities.  Land training included live fire events such as 
integrated artillery and close air support.  Air activities 
were robust with both the U.S. Marine Corps and Air Force 
allowed to conduct air-to-air and air-to-ground exercises and 
assault support training.  As such, Thailand continues to 
provide the opportunity to conduct training in unrestricted 
air spaces.  The opportunity to perform these operations is 
particularly important to the U.S. military, which finds it 
difficult to perform them elsewhere in the region.  For 
example, opportunities such as this are increasingly 
restricted in Korea and Japan for both geographic and 
political reasons.  Although Australia is a willing partner, 
distance and agricultural inspections complicate what is 
normally limited by GOA preference to bilateral training. 
 
Thailand continues to be the only venue in Asia where the 
U.S. military can fully engage in multilateral FTX. 
 
BROADENING PEACEKEEPING TRAINING EFFORTS 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (C) In operations that complement our Global Peacekeeping 
Operations Initiative goals, Cobra Gold provides an 
opportunity for the U.S. military to conduct peacekeeping 
training events with Thai, Indonesian, and Singaporean 
forces.  Regional peacekeeping capabilities were also 
enhanced by providing security for a noncombatant evacuation 
operations training event involving Japanese nationals living 
in Thailand.  This FTX event was a significant step forward 
in multilateral cooperation, especially for the Japanese. 
 
REALISTIC COMMAND POST OPERATION 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (C) The command post exercise focused on the transition of 
authority from a peace enforcement mission to a peace keeping 
mission.  The two headquarters, Combined Task Force (CTF) 
Cobra Gold and the UN Peacekeeping Force Headquarters 
(UNPKFHQ), were established in discrete locations and the 
physical separation forced realism into the exercise.  The 
UNPKFHQ was led by a Thai Army Special Colonel (Brigadier 
General equivalent) and had its own processes, objectives, 
and requirements.  This added to the complexity and realism 
of the exercise by requiring real world-like coordination 
between CTF and UN participants. 
 
EFFECTIVE HUMANITARIAN AND CIVIC ASSISTANCE TRAINING 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶8. (C) The Cobra Gold HCA program continues to provide 
outstanding training for engineers, medical, logistics, 
contracting, and civil affairs personnel.  Seventeen HCA 
projects were completed this year, and approximately 400 
personnel from the five participating nations were able to 
train together while completing HCA activities. 
Additionally, the inclusion of members of the international 
humanitarian community and subject matter experts from the 
Center of Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian 
Affairs enhanced the realism of the exercise and allowed CTF 
personnel to develop relationships for future engagements. 
Tens of thousands of Thais in remote rural areas benefited 
from the HCA medical and construction activities, and local 
media coverage of these events was extensive and positive. 
 
ENHANCING MULTILATERAL COOPERATION 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (C) We have no venue comparable to Cobra Gold that brings 
together military officers from so many countries for a 
military exercise in Asia.  This year's exercise allowed us 
to move toward our goal of increased regional cooperation 
with a total of nineteen countries involved in the exercise. 
In addition to the five participating nations (Thailand, 
U.S., Singapore, Japan, and Indonesia), Cobra Gold brought 
together seven Multinational Planning Augmentation Team 
nations (Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, France, Malaysia, 
Mongolia, and the Philippines), and seven observer nations 
(Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Pakistan, South Korea, and 
Vietnam).  Unlike some other nations that only host bilateral 
exercises with the U.S., the Thai actively have supported our 
objectives of enhancing military cooperation among countries 
in the region.  In fact, we are exploring inviting South 
Korea and Australia as participating nations. 
 
¶10. (C) Cobra Gold also has provided a forum for the Japanese 
military to play a greater regional role in Asia and for the 
U.S. to engage the Indonesian military.  We have worked 
closely with our Thai military partners to gradually increase 
the extent of Japanese military activities and achieve 
Indonesian participation. 
 
IMPROVING DISASTER RESPONSE CAPABILITIES 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶11. (C) Multi-national responses to numerous humanitarian 
crises in the region have been bolstered due to the strong 
 
ties developed as a result of Cobra Gold.  During Cobra Gold 
several years ago, PACOM first tested its Multinational 
Planning Augmentation Team (MPAT) concept -- a cadre of 
military planners designed to execute coalition responses to 
contingencies.  The MPAT was made fully operational and 
facilitated relief effort coordination among militaries from 
twenty one countries during the response to the December 2004 
tsunami. 
 
COBRA GOLD AS PLATFORM FOR DISASTER RELIEF 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶12. (SBU) As noted, the timing of Cobra Gold and cyclone 
Nargis enabled the USG to rapidly ramp up relief operations 
at Utapao for relief operations in Burma.  To date almost 100 
C-130 relief flights from Utapao have delivered more than 
eight hundred tons of aid.  Even without the coincidental 
timing of this year's exercise, our cooperative exercise 
program, with Cobra Gold the headline event, provides the 
foundation for easy access to Utapao for U.S. forces.  As we 
saw in the 2004 tsunami relief operation, U.S. and Thai 
forces work together easily and effectively to conduct 
regional relief efforts. 
 
POSITIVE PORTRAYAL IN LOCAL MEDIA 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶13. (SBU) Cobra Gold received good local press coverage with 
more than twenty reports in the Thai press.  In a contrast to 
 
the often critical coverage of U.S. military exercises found 
in the press of other nations with which we have exercises, 
local reporting stressed the benefits of the exercise, 
particularly joint training and humanitarian assistance. 
Following the devastation caused by cyclone Nargis, media 
focus highlighted U.S. military relief efforts.  There was 
intense interest in how U.S. military assets in the region 
for Cobra Gold could be leveraged to support delivery of 
disaster relief supplies to Rangoon and more severely 
affected regions of Burma. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶14. (C)  Cobra Gold remains an exceptional forum to influence 
key regional nations and to demonstrate that the United 
States is a steadfast partner.  This year's exercise was a 
tremendous training and team building activity that remains a 
foundation of our military engagement in Southeast Asia. 
This will continue to be the case in the years ahead. 
JOHN