Cobra Gold 2026 brings over 8,000 troops to Thailand
Thailand is set to host the 45th annual Cobra Gold military exercise from February 24 to March 6, bringing together more than 8,000 personnel from 30 countries in one of the region’s largest joint defence operations.
The multinational exercise, co-hosted by the Royal Thai Armed Forces and the United States Indo-Pacific Command (US PACOM), will take place across several locations in Thailand. This year’s iteration will focus on enhancing military coordination across five operational domains: land, sea, air, space, and cyber.
Absent this year is Cambodia, which has previously participated in some capacity. However, Vietnam and Laos will take part as observers, along with eight other countries under the Combined Observer Liaison Team (COLT) programme. These include Brunei, Germany, Jordan, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, and Timor-Leste.
Seven countries will take part as core participants: Thailand, the United States, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia. Meanwhile, China, India, and Australia are joining the drills as new participants this year.
Ten additional nations will rotate into activities through the Multinational Planning Augmentation Team (MPAT), including the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Canada, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Fiji, Mongolia, Nepal, and the Philippines.
The main training schedule includes three key segments: command and control exercises (C2X), humanitarian civil assistance (HCA), and field training exercises (FTX).
The command and control drills will simulate joint amphibious operations, including beach landings at Rayong’s Haad Yao, as well as coordination in space and cyber operations.
HCA efforts will focus on constructing multipurpose school buildings in five local areas and running disaster relief simulations, such as tabletop exercises and demonstration-based emergency response drills.
Field operations will include a range of combat training scenarios such as live-fire exercises (CALFEX), amphibious assaults (AMPHIBEX), maritime strike missions, long-range artillery (HIRAIN), air defence, drone countermeasures, and civilian evacuations (NEO/RJNO), along with specialised intelligence training in signal interception (SIGINT).
Cobra Gold has long served as a platform for enhancing regional defence cooperation and disaster response readiness. The exercise enables participants to share knowledge and improve interoperability, as well as strengthen diplomatic and strategic ties, reported Amarin TV.
Similarly, last year’s Cobra Gold, which took place from February 25 to March 7, featured the participation of 3,200 US personnel and approximately 30 other nations.
