Exercise in Indonesia comes to a close

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Cohen Young
  • Defense Media Activity-Hawaii
HALIM AIR BASE, Indonesia (AFNS) --  A joint exercise between Indonesian and U.S. Air Force members came to a close April 23 after one week of both countries participating in combined air drops and tactical maneuvers in support of Exercise Cope West 10.

Cope West is a Pacific Air Forces-sponsored bilateral tactical airlift exercise involving the U.S. and Indonesian air forces. The exercise is designed to advance interoperability between the two services, and promote cooperation and unity of purpose.

"This exercise went very well overall," said Lt. Col. Dave Kincaid, the 36th Airlift Squadron commander at Yokota Air Base, Japan. "We are the first to fly in Indonesia at night in decades because we were able to do our training here with (the Indonesian air force)." 

Previous restrictions did not allow flying at night in the Indonesian air space.

"We were able to do some night vision flying and complete tasks that we weren't able to do before and with that alone, this exercise has been a huge success," Colonel Kincaid said.

The training the two countries completed improved their capability to work with one another.

"We were able to work with the Indonesian pilots on a day-to-day basis and share how we execute our airlift, airdrop, air land operations ensuring that we both are improving should there ever be a disaster that needs us to work together," Colonel Kincaid said.

The pilots were able to exchange ideas in various ways to complete container delivery systems.

"I was very happy with the exchange and experience that occurred this week between our two air forces," said Indonesian air force Col. Djoko Senoputro, the Halim AB commander.

"We learned a new technique with the CDSs from what we were using," Colonel Djoko said. "Yokota (Airmen were) great to work with." 

At the end of the final day many of the aircrew members exchanged patches, a time-honored tradition between visiting pilots. This in itself was another part of building and maintaining relationships between the two countries.

Exercise Cope West serves to further the cooperation between the United States and Indonesia and to foster and maintain positive relationships.