Stay updated with breaking news from Cope Thunder. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
For the first time in more than 30 years, American and Filipino fighter pilots are flying together again in airpower drills that were among the largest in the Indo-Pacific during the Cold War.
With the conclusion of this year’s Balikatan exercise today, the United States and the Philippines are set to revive on May 1 a joint air-training maneuver they last conducted 33 years ago.
MANILA (Philippine Daily Inquirer/Asia News Network): Cope Thunder started in the Philippines in 1976 but the training stopped after the US military closed its bases in Clark and Subic Bay in 1991 due to damage from the Mt Pinatubo eruption in June that year and also after the Philippine Senate voted against extending the lease on US military facilities
The Philippine and United States air forces have revived the Cope Thunder joint exercise 23 years after it was stopped in 1991, the Pacific Air Forces Public Affairs said.
Air forces from both countries will conduct bilateral fighter training from May 1 to 12 in Clark Air Force Base in Pampanga.