Philippines
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Partnerships
LANPAC bolsters connections among Indo-Pacific armed forces
FORUM Staff The Land Forces Pacific (LANPAC) Symposium & Exhibition drew more than 1,700 military personnel, academics, and security and defense professionals to Honolulu, Hawaii, in mid-May 2023. The event, in its 10th year, highlights the role of land forces throughout the Indo-Pacific. Participants and attendees included delegations from more than 25 nations, and army chiefs from Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Japan,…
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Across The Region
Philippines, Singapore Affirm Defense Ties, Maritime Stability
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. concluded a two-nation Southeast Asian tour in Singapore in September 2022, where he and government leaders agreed to boost counterterrorism cooperation and affirmed the importance of peace in the South China Sea. Marcos arrived in Singapore after a state visit to Indonesia — his first foreign trip as president since his May 2022 election. Marcos,…
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Features
Former insurgents relinquish weapons
Benar News Former separatist insurgents in the southern Philippines relinquished thousands of firearms as part of a peace deal with the nation’s central government, their leader announced in late September 2022. Murad Ebrahim, also known as Ahod Balawag Ebrahim, made the announcement during the opening of parliamentary sessions in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Mindanao as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.…
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Partnerships
Inaugural cyber defense drill builds partnerships, capabilities at Balikatan
FORUM Staff Exercise Balikatan 2023, the 38th iteration of the annual training between the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the United States military, featured an inaugural joint cyber defense exercise (CYDEX) in April 2023. Combined teams of Philippine and U.S. cyber defense experts at Camp Aguinaldo outside Manila, along with Philippine law enforcement personnel, trained on a U.S.…
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Features
Maritime Domain Awareness
FORUM Staff | Photos By United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Securing maritime borders requires more than merely having the technology to detect anomalies; it must also include a workforce trained to analyze the data. People with skills to know what they’re seeing and how to explain and report it are a key component to deterrence. And the United…
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Conflicts - Tensions
U.S. warns PRC against ‘intimidation’ of Philippines in South China Sea
Benar News The People’s Republic of China (PRC) should stop its “unacceptable” harassment of Philippine vessels in the South China Sea, a senior United States official said in early May 2023, while pledging that Washington will stand with its staunch ally against any intimidation from Beijing in the disputed waterway. The comments from Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant secretary of state for…
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Features
Maritime Transparency
James McAden/HawkEye 360 Radio frequency (RF) space-based technologies aid in maritime domain awareness (MDA) and in the detection of dark vessels or dark ships. At sea, such vessels have disabled their automatic identification system (AIS) responders to avoid the tracking of their location, identity, course and speed, potentially to carry out nefarious activities. MDA poses a challenge, particularly given nations’…
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Free and Open Indo-Pacific/FOIP
Philippines, PRC face off at sea
The Associated Press A People’s Republic of China (PRC) coast guard ship blocked a Philippine patrol vessel approaching a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, causing a near collision in a recent act of Beijing’s aggression in the strategic waterway. The high seas faceoff between the larger Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ship and the Philippine Coast Guard’s BRP Malapascua…
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Partnerships
Balikatan Javelin missiles drills reinforce Philippines-U.S. defense commitment
FORUM staff The world’s premier shoulder-fired anti-tank weapons captured the spotlight as Philippines and United States forces trained in April 2023 to bolster modern capabilities, enhance interoperability and demonstrate a shared defense commitment. During Exercise Balikatan, troops from both nations participated in live-fire drills with Javelin surface-attack guided missiles. The weapons have a range of 2 kilometers and feature advanced…
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Partnerships
Philippines, U.S. showcase combat readiness at largest-ever Balikatan exercise
Maria T. Reyes The Philippines and the United States launched their largest-ever combined military drills April 10, 2023, which will include firing rockets to sink a decommissioned navy ship in waters facing the South China Sea. More than 17,600 personnel from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the U.S military are training during the three-week Balikatan 2023 to…
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