thumb|300px|A Mexican helicopter firing rockets at the former {{USS|Conolly|DD-979|6}} during UNITAS Gold in 2009 '''UNITAS Gold''' was the 50th iteration of UNITAS, which began in 1959 and is the longest-running multilateral maritime exercise.<ref name="boyn">{{cite web|last1=Boynton|first1=Holly|title=UNITAS Gold, Longest Running Naval Exercise, Begins in Florida|url=http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=44519|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927190144/http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=44519|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 27, 2012|website=Official Website of the United States Navy|publisher=United States Navy|accessdate=2 January 2017|date=21 April 2009}}</ref> The 2009 exercises included 25 ships and 70 aircraft from 12 nations and was the 50th time the operation was conducted.<ref name="Stavridis2014">{{cite book|author=James G. Stavridis|title=Partnership for the Americas: Western Hemisphere Strategy and U.S. Southern Command|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5_sNiXc95ZkC&pg=PA87|date=February 2014|publisher=NDU Press|pages=86–87|id=GGKEY:KDBABGL9GBS}}</ref> [[File:UNITAS Gold - Atlantic Ocean DVIDS169717.jpg|thumb|A Harpoon missile is launched from the guided-missile destroyer {{USS |Donald Cook}} during the sinking exercise portion of UNITAS Gold.]]
Rear Admiral Joseph D. Kernan, then-Commander, U.S. Fourth Fleet and U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command, remarked that UNITAS helps "nations coordinate efforts to oppose the scourge" of piracy.<ref name="Yu2012">{{cite book|author=Peter Kien Hong Yu|title=International Governance and Regimes: A Chinese Perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XoBt8bQ9RI4C&pg=PA111|date=21 August 2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-52101-0|page=111}}</ref> [[Image:AS-555 Fennec.jpg|thumb|right| A Colombian Navy AS-555 prepares to fire at ex-''Connolly'' during operation UNITAS Gold.]]
==References== {{reflist}}
{{US-mil-hist-stub}} Category:Military exercises involving the United States Category:United States Navy in the 21st century Category:Military exercises and wargames Category:Foreign relations of the United States