INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The first-ever iteration of an amphibious exercise between the Philippines and Australia kicked off on Monday.
The opening exercise, dubbed as Philippines-Australia (PH-Aus) Exercise Alon 2023 was held on the flight deck of HMAS Canberra. “Alon” is a Filipino word for “wave.”
Multiple ships and aircraft and more than 2,000 personnel will be involved in the exercise — around 700 from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), 1,200 from the Australian Defense Force (ADF), and 150 from the US Marine Corps, according to Lt. Col. Enrico Ileto, AFP public affairs chief.
The drills are part of the AFP and ADF bilateral cooperative amphibious serial for the Indo-Pacific Endeavour (IPE) activity this year.
“The term ‘waves’ signifies the characteristics of amphibious warfare and emphasizes the projection of ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore,” Ileto said in a statement.
As Australia’s flagship international engagement activity in the Southeast Asian and Indian Ocean region, the IPE aims to promote security, stability, and stronger partnership through bilateral and multilateral engagement training, capacity building, and humanitarian efforts.
The main objective of this exercise is to enhance interoperability and be able to share tactics, techniques and procedures, and best practices in the conduct of amphibious operations in the accomplishment of the PMC and AFP mission.
Last month, the navies of the Philippines and Australia conducted the 23rd iteration of their bilateral maritime drills in Subic, Zambales dubbed “Exercise Lumbas 2023.”
Apart from the US, the Philippines also has an existing Visiting Forces Agreement with Australia.