RP, Mongolia to join 'Cobra Gold'

RP, Mongolia to join 'Cobra Gold'

THAILAND: The Philippines and Mongolia will join the United States, Thailand and Singapore next month in the largest annual war games for American troops, with nearly 20,000 personnel involved, officials said on Friday.

"This year Cobra Gold has expanded to five participants, including the Philippines and Mongolia," which are due to send for the first time a total of just 24 troops to the massive joint exercises scheduled May 13-27 along the Thai coast, a U.S. Embassy official here told AFP.

The air, land and sea maneuvers scheduled for May 13 to May 27 will include the participation of about 13,500 U.S. service members, approximately 6,000 Thais and 95 Singaporeans, he added.

The 2003 drills involved a total of 13,000 military personnel.

This year's expanding multilateral nature of Cobra Gold "is injecting a little more of a real world scenario into the exercises," he said, referring to the international scope of peace enforcement operations which are a key component of the training.

According to an embassy statement, Cobra Gold "is designed to improve U.S., Thai, Singaporean, Mongolian and Filipino combat readiness ... enhance security relationships and demonstrate U.S. resolve to support the security and humanitarian interests of U.S. friends and allies in the region." -- AFP