In 1982, the Royal Thai Armed Forces and the U.S. Armed Forces initiated joint training, under the name of Exercise COBRA GOLD. At that time, the Royal Thai Navy was conducting naval, air and landing exercise with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps. These included: PHIBTRAEX, SEAIAM, UNDERSEAL, and EODEX exercises under the name Cobra Gold 1982 and continued until 1985.

In 1986, the Supreme Command Headquarters took responsibility for Exercise COBRA GOLD, and has continued the exercise annually. All Royal Thai Armed Forces have now joined the exercise, and it is rotated annually to each of the Royal Thai Army Areas.

Prior to 2004, the joint training was only between the Royal Thai Armed Forces, U.S. Armed Forces, and Singaporean Armed Forces. In 2004 the Philippine Armed Forces and Mongolian Armed Forces were added to the exercise which emphasized peace operations instead of war operations.

This year's exercise is the 27th anniversary of Cobra Gold and training will focus on a field training exercise, a command post exercise, and civic action projects. These three portions of the exercise offer their own unique training opportunities in multiple military skill sets.