MANILA – This year's Balikatan exercises between the Philippines, United States and other allies will focus more on cyber defense drills.
In a press briefing late Tuesday afternoon, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said modern conflicts such as the war between Russia and Ukraine and tensions in the Middle East between the United States, Israel and Iran highlight the importance of cyber defense.
He also said the U.S., before conducting any military operation, "often attacks the cyber networks of the forces opposing it as part of its efforts to paralyze and confuse its opponents."
"Because we saw from the lessons in Ukraine and in Iran that one of the first forms of warfare that was done was the cyber warfare to disable radar sites, disable command centers, disable firing batteries, etc," the AFP chief stressed.
Balikatan 2026 is expected to open April 20 and will last until late May.
"That is why it is very important that we develop this capability of defending our resources, our networks," Brawner said.
Meanwhile, the AFP chief said there is no need to ration fuel for participating units for Balikatan 2026, as resources such as petroleum and lubricants have already been allocated for the drills as early as last year.
"So hindi natin kailangan bawasan ito (we no longer need to reduce this). We are going to continue with all the Balikatan exercises with all the components of these exercises despite the war going on in Iran," he added. (PNA)