Malaysia to join US, Thailand and South Korea in military exercise

December 22, 2015 - Malaysia will join the United States, Thailand and South Korea in the Combined Arms Live-Fire Exercise (Calfex), in conjunction with the Cobra Gold military training exercise next year. Armed Forces Chief Gen Tan Sri Zulkifeli Mohd Zin said currently, about 30 countries were participating in the Cobra Gold, which was first held in 1982, but only the three countries had joined Calfex. 

Calfex is a training exercise that uses live ammunition and involves among others, the scenarios of bomb attacks by fighter jets and shots fired by tanks in the training area.

"This is a positive development because Malaysia will be among the countries which are actively involved in the Cobra Gold through participation in Calfex," he told reporters after receiving a courtesy call from Thailand's Armed Forces chief Gen Sommai Kaotira today. 

Malaysia became the first country in Sommai's visit since taking over the helm of the Royal Thai Armed Forces on October 1. Zulkifeli said among elements in the Calfex involved participants jumping from the aircraft and carrying out attacks in several training areas in Thailand. On his meeting with Sommai, Zulkifeli said he and his Thai counterpart had agreed to jointly build a wall along the Malaysia-Thailand border. (Bernama)