PRESIDENT Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. witnessed the combined joint littoral live-fire exercise between Philippines and United States troops held in Zambales on Wednesday, April 26, 2023.
Marcos was joined by Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., National Security Adviser Eduardo Año and several officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
US Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson was also present during the event, which was the culminating field training for the Balikatan 2023.
Some 1,400 marines, soldiers, sailors, airmen and coast guardsmen from both countries took part in the training, which involved detecting, identifying, targeting and engaging a target ship using a variety of ground and air-based weapons systems.
The exercise included the sinking of the target ship, a decommissioned Philippine Navy corvette towed into Philippine territorial waters.
It was positioned 12 nautical miles from the shore in San Antonio, Zambales.
The vessel was treated as hostile and needed to be sunk.
During the littoral live-fire event, a US Marine Corps command and control and sensor network enabled the various firing platforms to sense their target, develop firing solutions, and deliver precision integrated fires against the target vessel.
Among the weapons used were US and Philippine artillery, high-mobility artillery rocket systems, avenger air defense systems, AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, Philippine Air Force FA-50 Golden Eagle fighter-attack aircraft, F-16 Fighting Falcons, US Marine F-35B Joint Strike Fighters, and a US Air Force Special Operations Command AC-130 Spectre gunship.
The Balikatan 2023 was the biggest exercise between the ally countries as it was participated by 17,600 Filipino and American troops.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines said a focus point in Balikatan 2023 was the bilateral integration of command and control, sensors, and multi-domain fires which enabled expanded battlefield awareness, the sharing of targeting data between geographically dispersed units, and precision strikes in a contested maritime environment. (SunStar Philippines)