Spring 1999 Photos

1. COMMANDO SLING is a Singapore-U.S. air exercise conducted at Paya Lebar Air Base in Singapore. Australia participated for the first time in COMMANDO SLING 98-4. A Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) pilot climbs into his F/A-18 for exercise maneuvers.

2. Col. Voon Tse-Chow, exercise director and acting Commander of Paya Lebar Air Base of the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF), briefs exercise participants.

3. One of six F-15s of the Louisiana Air National Guard which flew 8,000 miles (12,880 km) to participate in the first trilateral COMMANDO SLING.

4. An RAAF F/A-18 Hornet and Louisiana Air National Guard F-15 Eagle on the flightline of Paya Lebar Air Base, Singapore.

5. The RSAF has superbly hosted 42 COMMANDO SLING exercises during which more than 6,000 sorties were flown over eight years of combined training.

6. The close friendship between Singaporean, Australian and American airmen has been bonded by years of training together. Australian and U.S. participants pose together.

1. This is the fourth major statement of U.S. strategy for the Asia-Pacific region since 1990.

2. Under U.S. Defense Secretary William S. Cohen, the 1998 strategy report is one of continuity while looking ahead to security challenges and opportunities at the turn of the century.

3. The Japan-U.S. alliance, the linchpin of U.S. security strategy in Asia, has been strengthened recently by enhanced security agreements. The Commander of the Japan-based U.S. Seventh Fleet flies by Mount Fuji.

4. Frequent exercises hone the skills of 100,000 forward-deployed U.S. troops.

5. Interaction with the Russian military has expanded to further strengthen the bilateral relationship. Gen. of the Army Anatoliy Vasilyevich Kvashnin, Chief of the General Staff and First Deputy Minister of Defense, meets with Lt. Gen. Randolph W. House, U.S. Deputy Commander in Chief, Pacific Command.

6. The long-term U.S. security relationship with China is based on a policy of comprehensive engagement typified by expanding military exchanges and dialogues, such as mutual naval fleet visits.

1. Royal Thai and U.S. Army paratroopers drop into Thailand after a 16-hour non-stop flight from Alaska to test a Crisis Reaction Force in combined exercise Operation BLACK TIGER - GERONIMO STRIKE.

2. About 450 Thai and U.S. paratroopers prepare to jump from five U.S. Air Force C-141s over Lop Buri, Thailand to evacuate simulated endangered American citizens from a fictitious country.

3. U.S. troops of the lst Battalion (Airborne) of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment prepare to move from the landing zone after landing.

4. One of the 42 paratroopers from the Thai 31st Infantry Regiment prepares to jump.

5. U.S. troops went from 60° to 95° (16°-35°C) in 16 hours. Medic treats a heat casualty.

6. The Alaska-based paratroopers coordinate the evacuation of the endangered American citizens.

7. Col. Mark Still, Commander of the USAF 62nd Operations Group which flew exercise support, poses with Col. Charoenporn Noppadol, Commander of the Royal Thai Army's 31st Infantry Regiment.