RIMPAC Maritime Patrol Aircraft Display

Maritime patrol aircraft participating in RIMPAC 2026 were on display this morning at Marine Corps Air Field Kāne‘ohe Bay. A P-8A Poseidon from the US Navy's VP-40 "Fighting Marlins" and a Kawasaki P-1 from the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's 5 Kokutai were on display. Commanders from the US Navy, Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, and the Republic of Korea Navy were also on hand at the event. There were also P-8As from the US Navy's VP-4 and RAAF's 11 Squadron departing the base for sorties, as a well as an RCAF CP-140 Aurora performing touch and go landings.

Here is a link to our YouTube video of the event.

RIMPAC 2026

The 2026 edition of the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) international military maritime exercise begins today. This is the 30th iteration of RIMPAC, runs through 31 July 2026, will have participants from 31 countries. The USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) is the US Navy aircraft carrier assigned to the exercise.

Luftwaffe Joins RIMPAC 2024

The Luftwaffe has sent a party of Eurofighter Typhoons and A400Ms to Hawaii to participate in RIMPAC 2024. 

Three Typhoons from the Tactical Air Force Wing 73 (Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 73) "Steinhoff" arrived early Friday morning after completing a record-setting flight from Chitose, Japan. The flight would set the longest flight ever done by a Eurofighter, 10hrs 31min in the air with multiple mid-air refuelings supported by the air refueling contractor, Metrea. Two A400M Atlas from Air Transport Wing 62 (Lufttransportgeschwader 62) are accompanying the Typhoons, and are fitted with external refueling wing pods.

This comes as part of the tri-national exercise, "Pacific Skies". Air assets from Germany, France, and Spain would forward deploy to the Indo-Asia-Pacifc region and participate in joint training with local forces. Pacific Skies consists of, Artic Defender-Alaska, Nippon Skies-Japan, RIMPAC 24 (Germany only), Pitch Black-Australia and Trang Shakit 1-India.

USS Carl Vinson Visit

HNL RareBirds™ was invited to go on an embark tour of the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) today. As part of RIMPAC 2024, the Vinson is the lead aircraft carrier for this maritime exercise. The ship left port on 11 July, and began flight operations the next day, and has been running flight ops since. I was part of a five-person media group that included a reporter from Naval News, a pair of reporters from France, and a local independent writer.

For our embark tour, we were taken to Marine Corps Air Station at Kāneʻohe Bay (NGF), where we would ride on a CMV-22B from the VRM-30 "Titans". After a meeting and a safety briefing, we donned our aviators life preserver, foam earplugs, and cranial helmet, then proceeded to walk out to the ramp to our awaiting Osprey, Bu No 169454 (msn D2020, f/n 24). Once seated and strapped in, it was a short taxi to Runway 4, and a quick takeoff as RUDY24. Our flight out to CVN-70 was listed at 45 minutes, with a routing that turned left to cross the Ko‘olau Mountains, over metro Honolulu, and somewhere to the south.

Once aboard the USS Carl Vinson, we had lunch, then a quick briefing with the ship's PAO, LCMDR Devin Arneson and her team. Our first stop was the flight deck. Before going out, we all had to put on a safety vest, and cranial. There were FA-18Es, FA-18Fs, F-35s, and EA-18Gs being launched off of the two side catapults. Once the launches were completed, the deck was readied for recoveries as other jets were returning from their sorties. The closest we were to the to the launches and recoveries was about 15 yards.

After the flight deck, it was an interview session with Admiral Michael Wosje, Commander of Carrier Strike Group 1; and Captain Matthew Thomas, Commanding Officer of the USS Carl Vinson. We also got to see the flight ops room, the navigation room, and the observation deck to view more flight ops, but from a hight point-of-view. We also got a tour of the ship's medical section. After a short break, we were treated to a second tour of the flight deck, which had launches off one of the forward catapults, and recoveries on the aft deck.

The last part of the tour was the hangar deck, where there were some aircraft undergoing maintenance, and some stored to save flight deck space. It was amazing to see the amount of aircraft parked on this deck, and such a confined space.

When it was time to leave to return to K-Bay, we all got ready with our life preservers and cranials, and waited for our CMV-22B. RUDY24 returned to take us back to shore. We boarded the tilt-rotor, strapped in, and departed the Vinson in less than ten minutes. Our 45-minute flight took us back over Honolulu, the Koʻolau Range, and Kāneʻohe Bay, before landing on NGF's Runway 4. A short taxi to the Air Terminal ramp concluded as dusk began to fall.

We would like to extend a big māhalo to the people at RIMPAC Media for the invite of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Thank you for your service!

USS Carl Vinson Ship Visit

The RIMPAC media team hosted a ship visit today. The main attraction was the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70), was the first ship we visited. The aircraft carrier had one of its hangar bays, and the flight deck open for photos and video b-roll. F-35Cs, FA-18Es and Fs, EA-18Gs, and MH-60s were visible during our tour.

We also visited two Republic of Korea Navy ships, the ROKS Chungmugong Yisunsin (DDH-975) and the ROKS Yulgok Yi-i (DDG-992). Both ships have helicopter hangars on the aft section, but were not present.

View our highlight video on YouTube.

RIMPAC 2024

The 2024 edition of the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) international maritime exercise begins today. This year's exercise features record 29 nations participating. RIMPAC 2024 will feature air assets from the Hawai‘i Air National Guard, the US Air Force US Navy's USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70), US Marine Corps, the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal New Zealand Air Force, the German Air Force, and others, totalling over 150 aircraft.

RIMPAC 2014

RIMPAC 2014 has officially started! This is the 24th running of the biennial here in Hawai‘i. The exercise that began on the 26th of this month and will run until August 1. The U.S. Pacific Fleet Command will host 22 Nations, 55 naval vessels, and 200+ aircraft here in Hawai‘i for the largest maritime exercise in the world. (For a list of participants, click here).