21/03/2023
Philippine and US generals posed for a photo during the opening ceremonies of Salaknib 2023. Photo: Reuters.
This March and April, the Philippines are hosting its army-exclusive Salaknib exercise and Balikatan exercise with the US. Though these military exercises are held annually, there are many noticeable “firsts” in this year’s renditions:
1/ The scale of both military exercises is considered to be the largest ever. Balikatan is expected to bring together 17,600 soldiers, of which 12,000 are from the US side. This is substantially larger than its previous record in 2015 (11,000 soldiers). The Salaknib military exercise also brought brings together 3,000 soldiers.
2/ Locaition wise, Balikatan 2023 will be held for the first time on Calayan Island, off the north coast of the main island of Luzon. The Salaknib military exercise is held at Luzon island, which consists of Fort Magsaysay - the Philippines' biggest military base, and is amongst the five military bases of the Philippines that the US was granted access to in accordance with the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).
This is consistent with the trend of spreading US forces in the region to operate more flexibly under the ACE (Agile Combat Employment) model.
3/ In terms of activities, the two countries will for the first time conduct live-fire exercises at sea (off the coast of the Zambales province, towards the South China Sea) within the framework of Exercise Balikatan. Previously, the exercise only contained live-fire exercises on land.
Balikatan 2023 will also have its first cyberspace defense-oriented exercise (before this, the Balikatan military exercise only had discussions on cybersecurity). Meanwhile, some sources claim that the two nations will for the first time integrate new tactics drawn from the war in Ukraine into Exercise Salaknib.
4/ In terms of partners, Australia will still maintain limited participation in Exercise Balikatan as per usual since 2014. Japan will participate in Salaknib 2023 as an observer for the first time.
The possibility of Japan joining Exercise Balikatan in the future is quite high as the Philippines leaves Balikatan open for all partners to sign the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), and the Philippine-Japan summit on February 23rd also mentioned the possibility of signing a similar document. Recently, Philippine officials have also touted the possibility of these four countries conducting joint patrols in the South China Sea.
The post is originally published here
Translated by Nguyen Tien Dat
Revised by HD, Luu Viet Ha
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