International Rescue Symposium
Allies and partners, united by the rescue mission.
Capabilities exercise, personnel exchange, and partnership across the Pacific.
13 to 18 July 2026
Honolulu, Hawaii
Seven participating nations
Capabilities exercise, personnel exchange, and partnership across the Pacific.
The International Rescue Symposium (IRS) is a professional gathering of military and civil rescue forces from across the Indo-Pacific region, hosted by United States Pacific Air Forces and led by the U.S. Air Force Pararescue community. IRS 2026 is the inaugural event, bringing rescue operators, planners, senior leaders, and industry partners from seven nations together in Honolulu for a week of exchange, exercise, and teamwork.
Personnel recovery is the mission of finding and rescuing people in trouble: downed aviators, mariners in distress, and communities struck by disaster. Across a region as vast as the Pacific, no nation does that alone. Over the week, participants share how their nations organize, train, and equip for rescue, work side by side through live exercise of critical rescue capabilities and team events, to build the relationships that make combined rescue operations succeed when the call comes.
The goal is simple: recover more people, in more places, faster.
Exchange best practices in search and rescue, personnel recovery, and humanitarian response across open ocean, jungle, mountain, and urban environments.
Build common procedures, communications, and trust so partner nations can operate together from day one of a crisis, not week three.
Improve the speed and precision of locating, reaching, and recovering people in distress on land and at sea, where minutes decide outcomes.
Forge the lasting professional relationships among Pacific rescue forces that carry beyond the symposium and into real operations.
If you scanned this from the beach or the field, here is what is happening in front of you.
A live personnel recovery exercise off Waikiki Beach using joint aircraft and small boats. Watch a jump pass, air refueling overhead, and a helicopter hoist rescue from the water.
Wednesday 15 July, morningMixed teams of US and partner nation operators run simple, rescue-themed events on the beach: a team swim, litter carry, and a high-angle rope haul. Friendly competition, shared fundamentals.
Friday 17 July, Queens BeachSymposium activities are planned and executed in coordination with federal, state, and local agencies to keep the public, participants, and waterways safe.
