‘Full scale’ Balikatan 2025 will also see biggest troop deployment ever

US TOP ADMIRAL AT BASA Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. (right) gives US Indo-Pacific Command chief Gen. Samuel Paparo a tour of Basa Air Base in Floridablanca, Pampanga, one of the nine sites covered by the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement between Manila and Washington. —AFP PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The joint war games between Manila and Washington next year, which will simulate a “full scale” battle for the first time, will also see the biggest number of personnel.

US Indo-Pacific Command chief Adm. Samuel Paparo Jr. made the pronouncement in Philippine Military Academy (PMA) in Baguio City on Thursday.

Paparo met with Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief General Romeo Brawner Jr. for the Mutual Defense Board-Security Engagement Board (MDB-SEB) to tackle the direction of military engagement between both countries, including the annual “Balikatan” exercises.

In May, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said that Balikatan 2025 will simulate a “full-scale” battle scenario.

Paparo said Teodoro is referring to a “full and comprehensive rehearsal of the concept plan” for the defense of the country, as well as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

“Whereas in previous Balikatans we might have had piecemeal individual part-task training exercises, this will be the largest Balikatan we’ve ever done and we’ll be doing jointly under joint and combined command and control across all of the services in this year, and so this is what he means by a full concept rehearsal,” said Paparo in a joint press conference with Brawner after their meeting.

Asked as to how many troops will be deployed for the drills next year, Brawner said they could not provide an exact number for that yet.

“As to the number of troops we are not yet privy to that because from this point we have given our guidance as commanders and the technical working groups will now be working on the details for the Balikatan exercise,” Brawner said.

Brawner, however, noted that the next year’s drills will integrate all of the drills which used to be conducted separately like command post exercise, skill training exercise and cyber exercise.

The AFP chief also said that, unlike in previous drills where counterterrorism is the main focus, the Balikatan 2025 will put maritime defense and security into centerstage.

Meanwhile, Brawner said they are open to include PMA cadets as participants of the drills.

“Well, we are open to that,” Brawner said when asked about the inclusion of PMA cadets. “In the past Balikatan iterations we have not specifically involved the cadets because they also have a different training schedule.”

Brawner cited conflict of schedule of PMA cadets with the Balikatan’s exercise dates.

“During the months of for instance April and May, some of the cadets are already having their academic subjects while the others are having their military courses,” Brawner said. “We will try to determine which scheme would work.”

This year’s Balikatan which began in April  saw over 16,000 personnel.

Both nations’ forces simulated their foiling of an invasion attempt by a foreign country in the shores of Laoag—one of the country’s northernmost areas near Taiwan that also faces the West Philippine Sea—through the use of howitzers in live fire drills.

Serving as the highlight of the event, the former BRP Lake Caliraya, a discarded “made in China” oil tanker, was also submerged during the sinking exercise held in the said coastal city.

READ: ‘Made in China’ target ship now a fish shelter after ‘Balikatan’ simulation

In another first, the Philippines was also joined by France and the United States in conducting joint patrols in the West Philippine Sea, which saw the presence of four Chinese warships throughout their sail.

Beijing’s presence is based on its assertion of sovereignty in almost the entire South China Sea, including most of the West Philippine Sea, even if such a claim has been effectively invalidated by the arbitral award issued in July 2016.

This landmark ruling stemmed from a case filed by Manila in 2013, or a year after its tense standoff with Beijing over Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, whose lagoon the latter now has an effective control of.