The US Army is introducing joint battlefield training in the Philippines to improve combat readiness, including by ensuring adequate supply of ammunition and other needs in difficult conditions in tropical jungles and on scattered islands, a US general said.
The administration of US President Joe Biden has been strengthening an arc of military alliances in the Indo-Pacific region to better counter China, including in any confrontation over Taiwan.
The US moves dovetail with Philippine efforts to shore up its territorial defenses amid disputes with China in the South China Sea.
Photo: EPA-EFE
About 2,000 US and Philippine army forces are to join the days-long combat drills backed by helicopters and artillery fire against armed adversaries in a jungle setting in the northern Philippines in June, Major General Marcus Evans, commanding general of the US Army’s 25th Infantry Division, said on Sunday.
The combat training would be held in the Philippines for the first time at Manila’s request. It is not clear whether the treaty allies would decide to turn the maneuvers into an annual exercise, Evans said.
The drills from June 1 to 10 come at the conclusion of two larger back-to-back exercises between the allied forces — the Salaknib army-to-army exercises, which opened on Monday, and the Balikatan, which are to start later this month and involve about 16,000 US and Philippine troops. Several nations, including Japan, are to send observers.
The combat-readiness drill “provides an excellent venue for us to get better in terms of our warfighting readiness, to enhance our partnership and then strengthen both our army profession by working together in a very challenging environment,” Evans said.
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