Hawaii Air National Guard F-22s are in Malaysia participating in Cope Taufan 2014, a bilateral US-Malaysian air exercise that kicked off this week, announced Air Force officials. This marks the first-ever deployment of F-22s to southeast Asia to participate in an exercise, they said. More than 450 airmen are taking part. In addition to the F-22s, Massachusetts Air Guard F-15s are at Cope Taufan, as are C-130s from Yokota AB, Japan, and C-17s from JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, and JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. This year’s event, which runs until June 20, is the “largest exercise here to date” said Col. Keith Gibson, expeditionary wing commander for Cope Taufan. US and Malaysian leaders have worked to expand military cooperation in recent years. At last month’s Shangri La Dialogue in Singapore, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel met with his Malaysian counterpart to discuss those ties.
The use of a military counter-drone laser on the southwest border this week—which prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to abruptly close the airspace over El Paso, Texas—will be a “case study” on the complex web of authorities needed to employ such weapons near civilian areas and the consequences of agencies…
