In the future, the Philippines and its oldest security ally, the United States, will stop holding large-scale joint and combined exercises to test their operational readiness.
Instead, the two allies will rehearse actual mutual defense plans based on an updated “Plan Orange” of the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) in joint operations.
“These are actual operational plans, no longer simulation,” Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr said, as the Armed Forces operations division (J-3) will plan and execute the joint operations, taking over from the Armed Forces education, training, and doctrines division. (J-8).
“The scenarios will be more realistic and will integrate real battle operational plans into actual joint operations as the Armed Forces slowly transform into a world-class warfighting organization.”
The Army, for instance, will create a Multi-Domain Task Force. The Army and Marines will form a joint missile force to operate a ground-based short-range air defense missile system and mid-range shore-to-ship missile batteries on the western and northern corridors.
The Air Force will focus on air defense and the Navy on maritime security, interdicting stray planes and ships.
The joint operations have actually begun softly.
In a series of large-scale military exercises this year between the Philippines and the United States, from ‘Salaknib,” “Balikatan,” “Kamandag,” and back to the second phase of “Salaknib,” the live-fire simulation and field training drills focused on what the two allies would likely face in the future.
From Eastern Europe, the narrow Red Sea, and the harsh mountains along the volatile India-Pakistan border, conflicts have given a preview of what to expect in future warfare – waves and waves of armed drone attacks and a barrage of tactical missile strikes, and pinpointed, precise strikes thousands of kilometers away.
Although the United States was still predicting a possible Chinese invasion of the self-ruled island of 23 million, probably by 2027, Washington has been looking at other options, including a naval blockade to disrupt international trade, which could affect wider areas in the Indo-Pacific region, including Japan, the Philippines, and South Korea.
Roughly $3 trillion of seaborne trade in crude oil, food, consumer goods, industrial, and semiconductors would be disrupted.
The effect would be more catastrophic than the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which affected global food and fuel supplies.
A crisis in the Taiwan Straits will involve the world’s two largest economies and will have far-reaching effects.
Thus, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth tweaked the second Trump administration’s interim national defense strategic guidelines to focus on anti-drone and anti-missile defense.
China has a huge arsenal of armed drones, tactical short-range to mid-range cruise and hypersonic missiles, and conventional submarines that could block international trade in this part of the world.
The US will be forced to protect not only international commercial vessels, but also its capital ships, including carriers and Aegis-equipped destroyers.
During the 19-day joint and combined “Balikatan,” Philippine and US forces rehearsed two counter-landing drills in Palawan and Cagayan, firing a barrage of howitzer fire and Sabrah light tanks along the coastline to prevent an amphibious landing.
In another part of Luzon, the US tested for the second time its new anti-ship and anti–drone platforms – the Navy Marine Expeditionary Anti-Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) and the Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADiS).
Last year, the US Army’s Multi-Domain Task Force introduced the Typhon mid-range capability (MRC), an offensive weapon capable of hitting targets deep into Chinese territories from northern Luzon.
The MRC has remained in the Philippines, and no one knew when the MADIS and NMESIS would be pulled out.
As the Philippines developed a modest minimum credible defense capability, joint and combined military activities with the United States are becoming more realistic and operational.
For decades, the military activities were focused on small units, low-intensity conflicts, moving into fighting terrorism and limited maritime security.
It’s about time the Philippines tasted what it would take to have a modern armed forces and be on par with its Southeast Asian peers.
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