Defence Team News Interview with RAdm Christopher Robinson, Deputy Commander of the RIMPAC Combined Taskforce
Video / July 19, 2022
Transcript
MS: Hi, we're here at Joint Base Pearl Harbour-Hickam in Hawaii for RIMPAC 2022. We recently spoke to Rear-Admiral Christopher Robinson, Deputy Commander of the RIMPAC Combined Task Force about Canada's contribution to the largest maritime exercise in the world.
SVH: So, what's your role at RIMPAC?
CR: So, this year I'm here as the Deputy Commander of the Combined Task Force. And what that really means is that I'm the second in command of the overall exercise. So, Admiral Boyle, Commander of Third Fleet, runs the entire exercise, but as you can imagine, there's a lot of moving parts, so I sort of help him out and assist.
SVH: Can you outline Canada's contributions to RIMPAC?
CR: Absolutely. So Canada… I mean the biggest contribution is we have two warships that are just over our shoulders here. But there's also a couple of maritime patrol aircrafts CP-140s. And importantly, we run a lot of the staff positions. So the Combined Air Operations Centre this year is commanded by General Golden, out of 1 Canadian Air Division in Winnipeg, and he has a team of about 50 people there. We also were the co-leaders of the Maritime Component, so the naval side of that, and we have about 50 people in there as well. So yah, a little bit of everything. We also have a large Public Affairs team here, a large Legal team here, Chaplains… We've brought all the capabilities that we need.
SVH: So, why is Canada participating in RIMPAC?
CR: So, I mean, RIMPAC is the largest maritime exercise in the world. It has been running since 1971, we were an original participant. And it really started because we're like-minded nations. We all value the rule of law, freedom of the seas, and working together with like-minded partners. So this is the best opportunity to do it. For the two frigates, that are Vancouver and Winnipeg, that are proceeding on deployment after this: This is a real good opportunity for them to work out the bugs and to figure out where the procedures need to be improved on, and to work with the nations that they're about to be working with over the next coming months.
SVH: So what do CAF members get out of this type of exercise?
CR: So I would say the first thing they get out of this, is just the experience of working with other nations, and more importantly, making friends. I am from a small dairy farm, and I joined the Navy to see the world, and you know, meet people in different cultures. And I think that's a really big, important aspect that we probably skip a lot of the times. Of course, there's professional reasons to be here, and exercising with some of the state-of-the-art equipment, people, procedures, and training ranges you can't replicate otherwards. But, building those partnerships so that in in the middle of the night, humanitarian assistance happens unexpectedly, and you show up on scene with ships that you've already worked with, it just makes things so much more seamless.
SVH: And anything else you'd like to add?
CR: No, I appreciate you coming all the way out here to interview us. We have three objectives that the Admiral had already mentioned. Of course we don't want to have any injuries, we don't want to damage the environment in any way. But one that didn't really come out, is we're really committed to making sure that all 26 nations achieve what they came here to do.
SVH: Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us today.
CR: Pleasure. Thank you.
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