JUNEAU, Alaska – U.S. Coast Guard District Seventeen and the Tokyo Rescue Coordination Center conducted a joint planning exercise, Thursday.
The scenario consisted of hypothetical lost communications with a commercial airliner that departed from Narita International Airport in Japan en route to Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage, Alaska. The agencies had to develop a search area and coordinate search efforts during the exercise.
The search area, located in the remote Western Pacific, crossed both country’s maritime responsibilities. The two response centers practiced different modes of communication to narrow the search.
"The exercise promoted international cooperation and cohesion between our countries with the common goal of saving lives,” said Lt. Cmdr. Edward Kalankiewicz, the command center chief at District Seventeen. “Joint exercises further develop our practical maritime cooperation before a real-world emergency occurs.”
The U.S. and Japan Coast Guards have a long history of cooperation, pursuing complementary efforts for regional maritime SAR and security in the Pacific.
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