Soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 623rd Field Artillery conducted a joint live fire exercise as part of exercise Rim of the Pacific, July 11, 2026, on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. The National Guard high mobility artillery rocket system unit worked alongside the Japanese Ground Self Defense Force at the Pacific Missile Range Facility Barking Sands to play a key role in the multinational exercise.
“Few artillerymen ever have the privilege of conducting a combined live-fire exercise with another nation’s forces,” said 1-623rd commander, Lt. Col. Tyler Brown. “While our equipment, procedures and even our languages may be different, our professionalism and dedication to our nations are the same.
"We are honored to train alongside Colonel (Daisaku) Yamada and his team, investing in our readiness, partnership and the security of the Indo-Pacific.”
The exercise was the first year the Kentucky Army National Guard played a role in RIMPAC, and the Kentuckians were among the few National Guard units in the event. The live-fire exercise was one of the more notable Army-centric events during RIMPAC.
RIMPAC is an international maritime exercise, providing a unique training opportunity for allies and partners to strengthen their collective capabilities and promote a free and open Indo-Pacific. RIMPAC 2026 is the 30th iteration of the biennial event, consisting of 30 nations and an estimated 30,000 personnel. This year’s exercise took place in and around the Hawaiian Islands from June 24 to July 31.
Soldiers with the 1-623rd trained shoulder to shoulder with the Japanese to successfully conduct a multi-lateral live-fire to put rounds on the same target. Each nation collaborated to launch surface-to-sea missiles and rockets at a naval target ship located miles off the Hawaiian coast.
The final rounds of the exercise were synchronized to launch simultaneously, fully testing the Japanese and American interoperability. Applause erupted from the shared tactical operation center as both rounds were launched within a second of each other.
The 1-623rd worked for months to plan not only the training necessary to accomplish the mission but the logistics to get equipment and Soldiers a long way from Kentucky.
“This mission is exactly what we’re designed to do,” said Staff Sgt. Hunter Williams, HIMARS crew chief. “We’ve had experience in moving a long way, firing on a target successfully, and safely exiting the launch zone. We’ve been on time, on target in Kentucky, on deployments overseas and now in the Pacific.”
Kentucky Soldiers and leaders alike described the unit’s morale as extremely high during RIMPAC 26. Those feelings were not only driven by a unique mission in an exotic locale but also by the cultural exchange with their Japanese counterparts, resulting in a contagious camaraderie and mutual respect. Rarely did a day go by without multiple examples of the integration of the two nations. Solid relationships were built between the foreign artillerymen from the swapping of patches to volleyball, cornhole, and a culminating social dinner.
“Training together is what transforms an alliance into a true partnership,” said Brown. “It allows us to understand one another’s strengths, improve our ability to operate as a team and build the confidence that comes from shared experiences."