THE TENSION: Combat Camera: PANAMAX 2007 Ends

PACIFIC OCEAN (Sept. 2, 2007) – A Canadian CH-124 Sea King takes off from dock landing ship USS Pearl Harbor (LSD 52) while a rigid hull inflatable boat prepares to embark Ecuadorian surface combat ship LAE 11 De Noviembre (LG 40) to conduct a visit, board, search and seizure training exercise during PANAMAX 2007. PANAMAX 2007 is a joint and multinational training exercise tailored to the defense of the Panama Canal, involving civil and military forces from the region. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Alexia M. Riveracorrea (RELEASED)

PACIFIC OCEAN (Sept. 2, 2007) – A rigid hull inflatable boat prepares to embark Ecuadorian surface combat ship LAE 11 De Noviembre (LG 40) to conduct a visit, board, search and seizure training exercise during PANAMAX 2007. PANAMAX 2007 is a joint and multinational training exercise tailored to the defense of the Panama Canal, involving civil and military forces from the region. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Alexia M. Riveracorrea (RELEASED)

CARIBBEAN SEA (Sept. 2, 2007) – A visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) team attached to guided-missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG 58) embarks aboard Columbian frigate ARC Antioquia (FM 53) as part of VBSS training during PANAMAX 2007. Civil and military forces from 19 countries are participating in PANAMAX, a U.S. Southern Command joint and multi-national training exercise co-sponsored with the government of Panama, in the waters off the coast of Panama in Honduras. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Todd Frantom (RELEASED)

COLON, Panama (Aug. 31, 2007) – Lt. Col. Adrian Rene Flores Marcelino, a Honduran police official, talks with other operational planners of the Combined Exercise Control Group during the beginning phase of PANAMAX 2007. Civil and military forces from 19 countries are participating in PANAMAX 2007, a U.S. Southern Command joint and multi-national training exercise co-sponsored with the government of Panama, in the waters off the coasts of Panama and Honduras. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Lolita Lewis (RELEASED)

FA PANAMAX 2007 Ends, Ensures Continued Security of Panama Canal
9/7/2007
By Mass Communciation Specialist 1st Class Barrie Barber, U.S. Fleet Forces Command Public Affairs

PANAMA CITY, Panama (NNS) -- More nations than ever teamed together in Fuerzas Aliadas (FA)PANAMAX 2007 to ensure the continued security of the Panama Canal, signs of both the multinational cooperative spirit and the importance of the waterway to worldwide commerce, high-ranking officials said during a closing ceremony Sept. 7.

“PANAMAX embraces the sense of community in the Americas,” U.S. Navy Adm. James G. Stavridis, commander, U.S. Southern Command said at a closing ceremony for the exercise. “It is a symbol of cooperative approaches to shared challenges in this hemisphere.”

Nineteen nations, in cooperation with the government of Panama, deployed more than 30 ships, a dozen aircraft and 7,000 personnel during Aug. 29-Sept. 7 in the largest naval exercise in the Western Hemisphere this year.

“We aspire towards maintaining the Panama Canal, the neurological center of world commerce, free and safe from emerging threats that may appear in our surroundings,” said Daniel Delgado Diamante, Panamanian minister of government and justice.

“We must remember that PANAMAX was initiated in 2003 with three countries: the United States, Chile and Panama,” he said. “It is significant to note that, in 2007, we incorporate 16 participating nations and three observer nations – all participating in the defense of the Panama Canal.”

PANAMAX this year demonstrated the real-world interoperability of the multinational civil and military forces, Stavridis said. Brazil and Peru Task Force Commanders took over command and control responsibilities when USS Wasp (LHD 1) was diverted to the coast of Nicaragua to offer humanitarian assistance after Hurricane Felix made landfall Sept. 4.

“I congratulate the participants for all of the flexibility they demonstrated in the face of this hurricane,” he said.

The admiral also lauded Honduras for allowing ground forces to participate at Soto Cano Air Base, and Panama for launching PANAMAX ALPHA, a first-ever internal exercise prior to FA PANAMAX 2007 that also ensured the security of the neutral waterway vital to global commerce.

The exercises are more important than ever with an expansion of the canal planned in the years ahead, said Rodrigo Cigarruista, director general of the Panamanian National Maritime Service.

“Every organization that deals with security is expected to test everything through evaluation,” he said through a translator. “The Panama Canal does not escape from this equation.”

Thousands of ships haul more than 200 million tons of cargo through the canal every year.

Panamanian officials noted the final day of PANAMAX marked the 30th anniversary of the Panama Canal Treaties with the United States, which governed the defense and operation of the canal and its permanent neutrality.

FA PANAMAX 2007 participating nations were: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Canada, Columbia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Netherlands, Panama, Peru, the United States and Uruguay. Three nations acted as observers: El Salvador, Mexico and Paraguay.