Balikatan 2025 to feature 'ship-killer' system in 'full battle test'
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines and United States kicked off the annual Balikatan military exercises on Monday, April 21, with nearly 14,000 troops set to participate in drills focused on combat readiness amid an environment "increasingly vulnerable to miscalculation."
The joint exercises, running until May 9, will feature a comprehensive ‘battle test’ simulating real-world scenarios to defend Philippine sovereignty across air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace. Approximately 5,000 Filipino troops and 10,000 U.S. military personnel will take part in the three-week drills.
Like last year, this year's war games between Filipino and American troops are taking place as tensions have continued to roil between Manila and Beijing over incidents in the South China Sea. Beijing claims the strategic waterways in its near-entirety despite a 2016 ruling that invalidated its sweeping claims based on so-called "historic rights."
The United States, a longstanding treaty ally of the Philippines, has repeatedly condemned China’s aggressive maneuvers in the West Philippine Sea — the part of the South China Sea within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone. Under a shared defense treaty, both nations are compelled to come to each other’s aid in the event of an armed attack.
On Monday, representatives from both countries' armed forces spoke of how the annual Balikatan exercise — now on its 40th iteration — has grown in scale and participation. From a "modest bilateral training activity," the exercise has turned into "one of the foremost military collaborations in the Indo-Pacific region," said Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr.
What's new? For the first time, this year's exercises will include an integrated air and missile defense simulation — the activity that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had reportedly requested to watch in person.
As in past iterations, the armed forces of Japan and Australia will also take part in the military drills.
For the first time, four European countries—Czech Republic, Lithuania, Poland, and the Netherlands—sent observers, bringing the total number of observer nations to 19.
Other countries that sent observers to the Balikatan exercises are Brunei, Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, United Kingdom and Vietnam.
"We will rehearse interoperability. We will refine tactics and we will demonstrate not just our will to uphold our mutual defense treaty in existence since 1951, but our matchless capability to do so," said Lt. Gen. James Glynn, the US' exercise director for Balikatan 2025.
Full battle test
The main highlight of Balikatan 2025 is a "full battle test," which integrates real-world security scenarios with live, virtual and constructive training scenarios.
Participants in this year's Balikatan will join operations in missile defense, counter-landing live-fire exercises, and maritime strike capabilities, among others.
"Across the vibrant expanse of Luzon, Palawan, the Visayas, and Mindanao, we will assess our readiness in all domains: air, land, sea, cyber, information, cognitive, and the emerging frontier of space, through comprehensive exercises that integrate tactical precision with strategic foresight," Brawner said during Monday's opening ceremony.
Glynn said this year's exercises will showcase several advanced military capabilities that the US has developed over the years, including the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS), the Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS), and the US Army's Mid-Range Capability Typhon missile system.
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NMESIS has been described as a "ship-killer" missile system with a range of 185 km. It is a ground-based anti-ship missile system developed for the US Marine Corps to support land-to-sea attacks alongside the US Navy.
Deploying these systems, Krugram said, demonstrates the alliance’s commitment to peace, backed by "credible combat power."
Glynn and Major Gen. Francisco Lorenzo Jr., Philippine exercise director for Balikatan, both declined during the press conference to detail where these systems will be used and how, though Glynn said all the systems will be used "to provide a combined defense capability" and to assess how well the participating troops can "employ and manage those systems in a mutually supportive way for the defense of the Philippines."
Meanwhile, Brawner said Balikatan 2025 is also an opportunity to advance the Philippines’ efforts to modernize its military.
He said the exercises will help improve coordination with allies and support the implementation of the country’s archipelagic defense strategy.
“We want to make sure the Armed Forces of the Philippines remains capable, agile, and ready to respond to any threat,” the AFP chief-of-staff said.
Strengthened alliance
In his speech during the ceremony, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo highlighted the exercises' importance to the Philippines-US alliance and their contribution to regional security and stability.
Last month, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made Manila his first international stop and reiterated Washington's "ironclad commitment" to the Philippines amid flaring tensions in the region.
The Philippines' top diplomat also reflected on the vastly different goals of this year's Balikatan compared to the 25th iteration of the military exercise, which Manalo attended in 2009. At the time, the focus was on counter-terrorism, he said.
"Those were very different times. With our countries facing different challenges, at that time, Balikatan with its enhanced civic-humanitarian component, was focused on winning hearts and minds and building Philippine capabilities in fighting terrorism," Manalo said.
"Times have indeed changed. The geostrategic environment is more complex and increasingly vulnerable to miscalculation," he added.
The growing participation of other nations, including Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, and France, demonstrates that Balikatan "serves broader regional aspirations and priorities," the foreign affairs secretary said.
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