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Representatives from the Maldives National Defence Force, along with more than 20 other partner and allied militaries, gathered to discuss the value and enhancement of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief capabilities during the fifth iteration of the Pacific Amphibious Leaders Symposium, or PALS, in Honolulu, Hawaii, June 3-6, 2019.
Key themes and presentations discussed at this year’s symposium were civil-military integration, setting the theater for optimized cooperation and planning for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations.
“All of the countries that belong to the Asia-Pacific have unique capabilities within them, which we don’t have, but somebody else has,” said Brig. Gen. Wais Waheed, commandant of the Maldives Marine Corps. “So to understand each other more, and our capabilities, will definitely contribute greatly for any operations we conduct, whether it is an HA/DR operation or combat operations. I think it’s unique, and I think it’s important.”
PALS started in 2015 to enhance amphibious operability and crisis response capabilities while fostering mutual international relationships. The symposium is designed to foster greater stability and prosperity by facilitating multilateral/bilateral discussions and engagements to plan, foster and encourage amphibious development.
“Every nation represented here today plays a vital role in our collective readiness to respond to HA/DR events and resiliency to bounce back from them,” said Adm. Phil Davidson, commander, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. “HA/DR is a prime example of an issue that allows many of us to come together and engage in beneficial partnerships.”
The symposium culminates with a static display of HA/DR-capable equipment on Marine Corps Base Hawaii, showcasing such assets as the MV-22 Osprey airframe, capable of externally lifting 10,000 pounds; the Tactical Water Purification System, able to produce approximately 1,500 gallons of potable water per hour; as well as new innovations in HA/DR-related technologies, such as new Unmanned Aircraft Systems, magnetic speakers and speech translators.
The purpose of the symposium is to bring together militaries with established HA/DR capabilities to “cross-pollinate” best-practices and lessons-learned, as well as bringing in those partner militaries looking to further develop their own capabilities.
“In current scenarios, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, every year we face a lot of disasters, and countries like Maldives, though we don’t face big disasters, we have local disasters,” Waheed said. “So, discussing among us the aspects of HA/DR, and the best practices that some countries have experience in and gone through, greatly benefits the other countries to understand and for future cooperation as well.”
| Date Taken: | 06.05.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 06.06.2019 00:17 |
| Story ID: | 325656 |
| Location: | HONOLULU, HI, US |
| Web Views: | 50 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Maldives National Defence Force leaders attend PALS19 to discuss humanitarian assistance and disaster relief capabilities, by 1LT Thomas Miller, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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