Philippines. (April 15, 2023): In this photo by Lance Corporal John Hall, Australian soldiers with Joint Australian Training Team-Philippines begin a jungle patrol during combined arms field training exercises at Colonel Ernesto Ravina Air Base, Philippines. This contingent of Aussies are taking part in Balikatan 23, an annual bilateral exercise between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the U.S. military. The Australians are joining these maneuvers to improve coordination with allied units and as a statement of their support for the American led effort to confront Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific.
Chinese naval militia continue to harass and ram Filipino anglers working in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone and Beijing warships and coast guard vessels are ignoring a 2016 international tribunal’s ruling dismissing its claims to much of the South China Sea. The Chinese are treating the region as its sovereign territory.
The Philippine government has responded by opening new military bases to the Americans and have greatly increased the size and tempo of military exercises.
Balikatan 23 involved three weeks of training focused on amphibious operations, command and control, humanitarian assistance, urban operations, and counterterrorism skills. The Australians will give lessons on combat shooting, urban clearance, tactical care of a combat casualty, and explosive breaching drills to Filipino infantry soldiers. The visitors spent months preparing to overcome the language and cultural barriers when working with foreign militaries. They even went as far as to employ Filipino speaking members to role-play various scenarios to enhance the realism of the training.
This is the largest joint maneuver yet with over 17,500 combined troops concentrating on four major events: command post exercises, cyber defense, field training, and humanitarian civic assistance. The combat forces will test their capabilities in maritime security, amphibious operations, live-fire exercise, urban operations, aviation operations, counterterrorism, and humanitarian assistance and disaster response.
The U.S. military will also conduct multiple humanitarian and civic assistance projects during this year’s Balikatan, including the renovation of schools, multiple community health engagements, and the exchange of advanced emergency lifesaving techniques.
These construction projects, health engagements and community relations events improve local infrastructure, facilitate the exchange of lifesaving medical skills, and strengthen ties between Philippine communities and Philippine, American, and Australian military forces.
Editor’s Note: The Australians are no strangers to combat in the Philippines. On July 1, 1942, the Japanese prisoner ship Montevideo Maru was sunk by an American submarine drowning 1,054 people, mostly Australian prisoners of war and civilians who were being transported from New Guinea to Hainan. The ship was not marked as carrying prisoners of war as required by the Geneva Conventions. The sinking is considered the worst maritime disaster in Australia's history.