In the first engagement of its kind, the commander of the Mongolian Air Force Command visited Hawaii for talks with the deputy commander of U.S. Pacific Air Forces. Commander of the Mongolian Air Force Command Brig. Gen. O.Enkhbayar and Pacific Air Forces Deputy Commander Maj. Gen. Russ Mack held talks late March.

These so-called airman-to-airman, or A2A, talks are designed to allow both sides to develop a rapport between senior officers and share best practices across a range of issue areas.

The United States and Mongolia have been developing their military-to-military ties in recent years. The banner exercise between the two sides is the Khaan Quest series of exercises; the 2018 iteration of that exercise focused on peacekeeping operations.

Over the two days of talks, two sides shared perspectives on improving air operations. According to a statement by U.S. Pacific Air Forces Public Affairs, the participating “delegation represented experts from a variety of specialties, to include safety, personnel, maintenance and logistics.” The two countries are expected to continue talks between senior air force officials. The next round is expected to take place in Mongolia.

The Mongolian Air Force is fairly modest in its capabilities, relying primarily on Mi-8 and Mi-161 attack/transport helicopters. Apart from hosting the annual multinational Khaan Quest exercises, Mongolia conducts a range of bilateral military exercises with Russia and India.