Philippines-Australia war games begin

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Australian Defence Force (ADF) opened a joint military training dubbed as "Exercise Amphibious and Land Operations" (ALON25) on Friday, Aug. 15, as both forces seek to enhance their interoperability, joint force projection capabilities, and multi-domain operations.

- By MARTIN SADONGDONG

More than 3,600 personnel from the AFP, ADF, United States Marine Corps (USMC) and Royal Canadian Navy are participating in the exercise which will be held at training locations around the islands of Palawan and Luzon facing the West Philippine Sea (WPS) until Aug. 29.

The opening ceremony was held at the headquarters of the Western Command (Wescom) in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan.

There will also be foreign observers from the militaries of the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, and Indonesia as part of the International Observers Program (IOP), highlighting the positive impacts of the joint and combined events of ALON25.

The AFP said major activities include amphibious and maritime operations and combined joint forcible entry operation (CJFEO) in Palawan; and combined arms live fire exercise (CALFX)-close air support (CAS) in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija.