USS Essex (LHD 2) on its way to Hawaii with a U.S. Army AH-64 Apache assigned to the 16th Combat Aviation Brigade, 7th Infantry Division (Multi-Domain Command – Pacific) that recently lifted off from the ship to conduct a live-fire exercise in preparation for Exercise Rim of the Pacific, June 14, 2026. US Army photoThe U.S.-led Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2026 exercise began on Thursday in Hawaii.

RIMPAC 2026 Kicks off in Hawaii

by Dzirhan Mahadzir, USNI News, June 25, 2026

Thirty-one surface ships, five submarines, 197 aircraft and 30,000 personnel, including 1100 landing forces will take part in the drills, said Vice Adm. Jeff Jablon, RIMPAC 2026 Commander, Combined Task Forces (CCTF) and deputy commander, U. S. Pacific Fleet, during the opening press conference on Thursday at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

“The Rim of the Pacific exercise continues to be the world’s premier multinational maritime training event, bringing together allies and partners committed to strengthening security and stability across the region,” said Jablon in a release, “By training together in complex, realistic scenarios, participating nations improve readiness, sharpen warfighting skills, and strengthen the interoperability required to operate effectively alongside one another whenever and wherever needed.”

RIMPAC 2026’s multi-national leadership is comprised of Chilean Navy Commodore Andres Howard, as Deputy Commander, Combined Task Force; Rear Adm. Takuo Kobayashi, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, as Vice Commander, Combined Task Force; Rear Adm. In-Ho Kim, Republic of Korea Navy, as Combined Forces Maritime Component Commander; and Brig. Gen. J.S. Davis, Royal Canadian Air Force, as Combined Forces Air Component Commander.

Training events include amphibious operations, gunnery and missile exercises, anti-submarine warfare, air defense operations, military medicine, humanitarian assistance and disaster response, counter-piracy operations, mine countermeasures, explosive ordnance disposal, and diving and salvage operations.

“Throughout the exercise, participants will train and operate together to strengthen collective readiness, reinforce international partnerships, and promote a free and open Indo-Pacific,” reads the release.

RIMPAC normally includes a Sinking Exercise (SINKEX) with the 2026 iteration expected to involve two decommissioned U.S. Navy ships as targets though the Navy has not disclosed which two ships will be sunk during the drills.

Aircraft Carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt with embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 9 will lead a U.S. contingent comprising of cruiser USS Chosin (CG-65), destroyers USS Paul Hamilton (DDG-60), USS Decatur (DDG-73), USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG-108) and USS Carl M. Levin (DDG-120), amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD-2), attack submarines USS Charlotte (SSN-766) and USS Columbia (SSN-771), fleet oilers USNS Tippecanoe (T-AO-199) and USNS Guadalupe (T-AO-200), dry cargo ship USNS Washington Chambers (T-AKE-11) and U.S. Coast Guard cutter USCGC Kimball (WMSL-756).

Attack submarine USS Charlotte (SSN-766) in March sank Iranian frigate IRIS Dena (75) off Sri Lanka as part of Operation Epic Fury. Essex is operating with a contingent from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) with the contingent disembarking at Marine Corps Base (MCB) Hawaii on Jun. 18 to carry out the shore phase of RIMPAC and expected to re-embark later for the amphibious phase.

The Netherlands has pulled out Royal Netherlands Navy frigate HNLMS De Ruyter (F804) from RIMPAC, retasking the frigate on Friday to the Strait of Hormuz to potentially join a France-U.K. multinational force whose mission is to ensure safe passage through the Strait though the Netherlands will still participate in RIMPAC with staff and specialist personnel

Previous RIMPACs have involved trials, experimentation and use of unmanned surface vessels (USVs) though the Navy has not disclosed details on USV involvement at RIMPAC 2026. In April, USV manufacturer Saildrone stated that it is working with defence prime Lockheed Martin to integrate a AGM-179 Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) missile launcher onto a Saildrone Surveyor USV with a live-fire demonstration against a high-speed, maneuvering surface target scheduled for RIMPAC 2026. Despite its designation, JAGM is capable of being fired from ships and ground launchers.

All-domain collaborative autonomy company HavocAI on Tuesday announced its participation in the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing Research and Education (CAMRE)’s distributed advanced manufacturing experiment at RIMPAC 2026.

The company stated that at RIMPAC 2026, it will demonstrate how autonomous systems can work together across air and maritime missions, and during the exercise, HavocAI’s autonomous surface vessels (AUVs) will autonomously resupply U.S. and allied nation surface vessels in a first-of-its-kind multinational autonomous logistics operation with participation in RIMPAC following its involvement in Balikatan 2026 in the Philippines.

HavocAI did not state which of its autonomous surface vessels will be deployed in the exercise, the company has varying types of AUVs which vary in size and capabilities with the largest being the 100 ft (30m) Atlas 100 Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV) that it is co-developing with PacMar Technologies and USNI News previously reported that the partnership was one of seven companies identified by the Navy as supporting the first round of MUSV prototyping.