Against the backdrop of western Mongolia’s rugged mountain basins and vast inland lakes, U.S. service members, civilian subject matter experts and Mongolian emergency personnel joined forces Sept. 21-25 for the Uvs 2026 Disaster Response Exercise and Exchange.

The five-day bilateral humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise brought together the Alaska National Guard, U.S. Army Pacific, the U.S. Embassy in Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian National Emergency Management Agency and the Uvs Province Local Emergency Management Agency.

As part of the U.S. Army Pacific Resilience program and the National Guard’s State Partnership Program, Uvs 2026 tested interagency interoperability and crisis response across one of Mongolia’s most geographically diverse provinces. Uvs Province features steep mountain ranges, steppe plains and major water basins that regularly expose local communities to flash flooding, severe winter storms and seismic hazards.

“Mongolia is actively implementing international cooperation and learning from global best practices to reduce disaster risk,” said NEMA Maj. Gen. G. Ariunbuyan, chief of the National Emergency Management Agency, during the exercise opening ceremony. “Disaster protection exercises have the most important impact on ensuring sustainable local development and strengthening resilience.”

More than 520 Mongolian emergency, military and law enforcement personnel from five western provinces — Uvs, Bayan-Olgii, Govi-Altai, Zavkhan and Khovd — participated in the readiness inspection and field training alongside 16 disaster protection services, 12 specialized units and 60 tactical response vehicles.

Alaska National Guard personnel designed, organized and led nine specialized training tracks, providing critical instruction to more than 150 Mongolian first responders. The curriculum blended classroom academics with hands-on field training exercises in urban search and rescue, high-angle rope rescue, hazardous materials response, mass casualty medical triage and boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion, or BLEVE, firefighting.

To address the unique geography of western Mongolia, Alaska Guardsmen and civilian specialists led surface water search-and-rescue operations on Khyargas Lake and integrated rotary-wing aerial rescue drills with NEMA’s 111th Airborne Search and Rescue Unit. Under the leadership of Alaska National Guard tactical lane leads, responders also incorporated unmanned aerial systems, disaster communications and cybersecurity defense into an overarching Incident Command System framework.

“This joint exercise was unique in that it integrated leadership decision-making, interagency coordination and rescuer skills into a unified operation dedicated to saving human lives,” Ariunbuyan said.

During planning conferences leading up to the event, Alaska National Guard leadership—including Col. John Boston, Capt. Andre Andrews and Master Sgt. Michael Knecht — worked closely with U.S. Army Maj. Andrew Adams, the bilateral affairs officer to Mongolia, U.S. Army Pacific planners and NEMA Deputy Chief Col. Ts. Uranchimeg to tailor the curriculum to regional humanitarian needs.

“The State Partnership Program exists to build enduring relationships that translate directly into operational readiness,” Boston said. "By working side-by-side with our Mongolian partners to synchronize our response frameworks, we ensure that if a real-world disaster strikes, our combined response will be rapid, coordinated and effective at saving lives.”

Beyond the technical lanes, U.S. civilian subject matter experts and Alaska Guardsmen worked side-by-side with Mongolian counterparts to adapt standard ICS protocols to regional command structures, bridged by dedicated bilateral linguist teams.

Following the conclusion of Uvs 2026 on Sept. 28, Uranchimeg met with U.S. delegation leaders in Ulaanbaatar to review exercise outcomes and initiate early planning for the multinational Gobi Wolf 2028 exercise. Both nations reaffirmed their commitment to expanding disaster management capabilities across the Indo-Pacific region.

Published Date:2026-11-11