Naval Oceanography Executes RIMPAC 2022
01 August 2022
STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. -- Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (Naval Oceanography) is actively a part of the U.S. Navy efforts alongside our international partners in the biennial, 28
th edition of Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2022 exercise, June 29- Aug. 4.
Ten out of 15 of Naval Oceanography’s subordinate commands are actively executing the exercise, bolstering international naval cooperation for maritime security and stability with our very capable and adaptive partners.
“Partnerships are built into Naval Oceanography’s long standing strategy because partnership is a tool of leverage in creating a warfighting advantage and is part of the foundation of our national defense strategy and RIMPAC is a platform to showcase exactly that,” said RDML Ron Piret, Commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command.
RIMPAC contributes to increased interoperability, resiliency and agility necessary for joint and combined force to deter and defeat aggression across all domains—and postured toward any level of conflict.
Naval Oceanography teams on the ground as part of RIMPAC are working with partner nations like Japanese Defense Force, Republic of Korea, Royal Australian Navy, and other countries from around the Pacific area in fields such as oceanography, hydrography, meteorology, and others to ensure a safely executed exercise. Throughout the year, Naval Oceanography meets with our counterparts building on decades of friendship and collaboration, most recently meeting the Republic of Korea’s Navy Hydrography representative.
The multinational hydrography teams have been using various sonar and unmanned systems to search for objects on the ocean floor as part of a Humanitarian Assistance Disaster Response (HADR) scenario to safely reopen a port following a typhoon.
The following Naval Oceanography commands are directly a part of RIMPAC 2022: Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVO); Fleet Survey Team (FST); Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (FNMOC); U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO); Naval Oceanography Operations Command (NOOC); Naval Oceanography Mine Warfare Center (NOMWC); Fleet Weather Center- San Diego (FWC-SD); Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC); Strike Group Oceanography Team-San Diego (SGOT-SD); and Naval Oceanography ASW Center-Yokosuka (NOAC-Y).
USNO, as the DOD’s authoritative source for precise time, continues to ensure the accuracy of the atomic clocks, celestial references and GPS which is used by all those involved in RIMPAC.
NAVO provided drifting buoys and profiling floats, deployed by USMC C-130 squadron VMGR-152, which contribute data directly into FNMOC’s oceanographic models. These models are then used by NOOC to better provide tactical awareness and recommendations for the submarine environment.
In real-time FWC-SD is monitoring and delivering safe routes for ships to traverse during the exercise and acts as the central location to coordinate forecasts for a full-spectrum of warfare areas.
SGOT-SD has teams embarked on the USS Essex (LHD 2) and USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), while NOAC-Y has a detachment directly a part of MPRA and anti-submarine warfare.
FST is conducting hydrographic surveys for sub-surface hazards in the Honolulu harbor as part of the Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief efforts. In addition, the FST team will identify targets of interest in Bellows Beach and Pyramid Rock prior to amphibious landings. FST utilizes Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) to conduct these surveys similarly to NOMWC. NOMWC is conducting UUV data analysis, post-mission analysis of side-scan sonar, and provides recommendations for mine-like contact (charge detection and contact fusion) in the Southern California Operating Area.
Throughout the exercise, JTWC will provide analysis, forecasts and decisions enabling RIMPAC leadership to plan, prepare, and protect against adverse weather in the areas around the exercise.
“It’s about providing decisive advantages to our Navy and Department of Defense allies and partners by ensuring our weather and ocean environmental information superiority is better than anyone else, and we rely on our international partners to execute that,” said Piret.
Naval Oceanography encompasses a wide range of missions crucial to today's naval fleet and will be exercising some of those missions during RIMPAC. They include oceanography, hydrography, meteorology, climatology, geospatial information science, astrometry, earth orientation and precise time.
The maritime environment is large and complex and it takes partnerships to protect. Operating together strengthens regional partnerships and improves multinational interoperability. Unmanned and remotely operated vessels extend the capability of interconnected manned platform sensors to enhance the warfighting capacity of multinational joint task forces.
This exercise is a perfect opportunity to improve our capabilities and at the same time work together with partners in order to train for multi-domain and joint operations, to include in unmanned underwater systems.
Twenty-six nations, 38 ships, four submarines, more than 170 aircraft, more than 30 unmanned systems and 25,000 personnel are participating in RIMPAC from June 29 to Aug. 4 in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California. The world’s largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity while fostering and sustaining cooperative relationships among participants critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world’s oceans. RIMPAC 2022 is the 28th exercise in the series that began in 1971.
U.S. Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command directs and oversees more than 2,500 globally-distributed military and civilian personnel who collect, process and exploit environmental information to assist Fleet and Joint Commanders in all warfare areas to make better decisions, based on assured environmental information, faster than the adversary.
For more information about Naval Oceanography, contact cnmoc_stns_paoweb@.navy.mil or 228-688-4147. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram (Naval Oceanography), Twitter (@NavyOceans), and LinkedIn.