Thailand and the United States have hosted the opening ceremony for the annual Cobra Gold military exercise.
It's the biggest activity of its type in the Asia-Pacific region, with 29 nations taking part as participants or observers.
Seven nations in addition to Thailand and the United States are active participants: Singapore, Japan, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea.
The acting head of the US diplomatic mission in Thailand, Peter Haymond, said at the ceremony on Tuesday in northern Thailand that the aim of the exercise, first held in 1982, is to strengthen cooperation and inter-operability.
There are three major components of the exercise, which ends on February 22: military field training, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief training.
