Australian, Philippine and United States Marines and Soldiers launched an infantry raid force from U.S. Osprey aircraft onto Balabac Island, facing the South China Sea, to confront a mock adversary in challenging maritime terrain. Simultaneously, Philippine Marine and Naval forces conducted an amphibious landing to secure air and sea domains.
Days before and more than 1,400 kilometers to the north, Philippine and U.S. military personnel deployed low-signature, lightweight formations to the Batanes Islands, where the U.S. deployed anti-ship missiles for the first time in the strategically vital Luzon Strait. The maritime key terrain security operation (MKTSO) rehearsed all seven joint warfighting functions: movement and maneuver, fires, intelligence, sustainment, protection, command and control, and information.
Meanwhile, Philippine and U.S. forces combined the nations’ air control, missile defense and counter-drone capabilities in live-fire integrated air and missile defense (IAMD) exercises at Naval Station Leovigildo Gantioqui in Zambales, Western Luzon.
Merging complex military training with cyber defense, humanitarian response rehearsals and convergence across the information domain created the full battle test that defined Balikatan 2025. Combined, joint, all-domain operations, such as the MKTSO, IAMD and counter-landing live-fire events, allowed Allies and Partners to evaluate newly fielded and emerging technology. The 40th iteration of the Philippine-U.S. exercise, which takes its name from the Filipino word meaning shoulder to shoulder, included participation from Australia and Japan and observers from 17 nations. Balikatan also demonstrated a combined commitment to Philippine defense and regional stability.
Following through on U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s pledge to deploy advanced capabilities for the exercise, the U.S. delivered the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System to Batanes, less than 200 kilometers from Taiwan, in late April 2025. The light, maneuverable capability, mounted on an uncrewed vehicle, strengthened deterrence in the region, where China’s threats to annex Taiwan risk conflict that could spill into the neighboring Philippines. “These systems will enable U.S. forces and the Armed Forces of the Philippines to train together on using advanced capabilities to defend the Philippines’ sovereignty,” Hegseth said during a March 2025 trip to Manila, referring to the NMESIS and uncrewed surface vehicles the U.S. provided for Balikatan.
“The United States has been fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with the Philippines since World War II,” Hegseth said during a press conference with Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. “Our partnership not only continues today, but we are doubling down on that partnership, and our ironclad alliance has never been stronger.”
The exercise supports interoperability among the longtime treaty allies, Philippine Army Brig. Gen. Michael Logico told FORUM. “From a purely training perspective, I would say that the exercise has enlightened and educated our organization. … Up to this point the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] has been doing well at the tactical level, but we are still learning the ropes when it comes to joint and combined operations,” he said. “You’re dealing with two different armed forces with differing capabilities, differing cultures, and Balikatan has been instrumental in bridging that gap by giving us an opportunity to train together.”
Balikatan, which demonstrates modern warfighting doctrine alongside cutting-edge technology and deploys interconnected military personnel across vast territory, allows participants “to exercise on a grand scale,” said Logico. “It strengthens the alliance and at the same time it also encourages other like-minded partners to join.” Maintaining a Free and Open Indo-Pacific requires Allies and Partners to present a united front, Logico said. “The only way you can do that is to maintain a certain balance. Do not allow one nation to have military power over the environment. Provide them a sort of counterweight. That is one way of maintaining balance until such time that both parties decide it is not worth going into full conflict.”
Combined civil-military operations
Balikatan 2025 integrated engineering projects with humanitarian/civic assistance missions across the Philippines. Australian, Philippine and United States military members joined Japan Self-Defense Forces medical personnel for civil-military operations. Health and interfaith engagements provided medical, dental and educational supplies and services. Donations included computers, monitors, projectors, printers, speakers and solar panels. Building projects included:
- Lal-lo, Cagayan: Troops built a multipurpose facility for community events and disaster shelter, increasing resilience for a region frequently hit by typhoons and other destructive weather.
- Dona Remedios Trinidad, Bulacan: Combined personnel renovated a school that serves over 400 students a year.
- Rizal, Palawan: Forces built a health center
to bring critical medical capabilities to an underserved community. - Brooke’s Point, Palawan: Troops built a two-room elementary school, expanding the town’s education capability.
Unifying cyber efforts
Across the archipelago, more than 200 Philippine and U.S. military personnel with observers from around the globe trained on a cyber range — a digital network underpinning a self-contained virtual city — to defend against simulated hackers intent on disruption. Teams protected and attacked networks and tried to exploit each other’s operating procedures while finding digital inconsistencies that exposed malicious activity. Participants protected naval and air infrastructure as well as power, telecommunications, hospital and financial networks. The exercise required not only technical expertise but also the ability to manage a demanding environment that would accompany a real-world cyber conflict, U.S. Army Maj. Plamin Rabino, the cyber exercise director for the Guam National Guard, told FORUM. “For example, the cyber defenders need to work with a network owner, and that network owner will be in some sort of stressful environment because, of course, his critical infrastructure or his organization is currently under a cyberattack where he needs to find a way to keep those critical infrastructure operations up and running,” Rabino said. “It’s very like how things are going to be in competition, crisis or conflict. We actually have some realism. Let’s say the power grid is under attack and there is a DOS, or denial of service attack. We actually cut off their power and from there let them go to their primary alternate contingency and emergency way of conducting business.”
Balikatan 2025 marked the third year that combined Philippine and U.S. forces conducted a cyber defense exercise (CYDEX) and the first time that teams dispersed across the country to rehearse protecting critical infrastructure. In addition to participants and observers at Camp Aguinaldo, the AFP’s headquarters in Quezon City, cyber defenders worked about 75 kilometers away at Basa Air Base; in Subic, more than 90 kilometers from the headquarters; and more than 600 kilometers to the south in Palawan.
The CYDEX also has grown in complexity, Philippine Navy Lt. Cmdr. Gilbert Ace S. Torres told FORUM. Additional critical infrastructure networks, including banking systems, were new in 2025. “Procedures are also evolving,” he said. “Previously, we did the exercise as a stand-alone only within the component, the teams … But now we’ve integrated it with the higher headquarters, with the command post exercise, command and control exercise, field training exercises that involve land, sea and air, and it was also integrated into the information warfare exercise.”
Working shoulder to shoulder helps define each nation’s tactics, procedures and legal boundaries, Torres said. He and Rabino also emphasized the importance of international observers and the promise of adding other nations to the CYDEX. “This is a way to unify our efforts, especially in the first island chain,” Rabino said. “In the cyber domain especially, the more unified we are, the better.”
Building bonds — and community
Balikatan’s multinational collaboration also yielded tangible improvements for Philippine residents. For example, medical teams provided cardiology screenings, wound care, more than 90 dental surgeries, cleanings and fluoride treatments, and other medical services in the Bulacan province outside Manila. Japan Self-Defense Forces personnel joined Australian, Philippine and U.S. service members for humanitarian and civic assistance projects at sites such as Pulong Sampaloc Elementary School. There, Philippine and U.S. military chaplains delivered televisions, laptops and classroom supplies in English and the Philippine Tagalog language. Japanese personnel hosted cultural exchanges and a joint health team provided more than 170 medical consultations and treatments.
Engineering projects at five Philippine sites — a $1.6 million investment that stretched from a community center and disaster shelter in the northern Cagayan province to an elementary school and health center in far-west Palawan — also supported communities. At the Pulong Sampaloc school, Australian, Philippine and U.S. crews excavated and replaced the building’s foundation to contend with flooding and replaced the roof, gutters, wiring, plumbing, bathroom facilities and classrooms. A new computer room for donated laptops and other equipment received updated electrical outlets and air conditioning to support the technology. “This is about the easiest work I can think of to get motivated for,” U.S. Air Force 2nd Lt. William Schaub told FORUM. Working with other nations’ militaries is an added benefit, according to Schaub, who said it strengthens ties among the counterparts and lays a foundation for future cooperation. “The expectation is that anywhere in the island chain we need to send people, they’ll have the knowledge to come together as a team,” he said.
Engineers and construction crews build understanding as they erect structures that benefit the community, added Royal Australian Air Force Sgt. Michael Breen, who came to the elementary school alongside Australian military carpenters, plumbers, electricians and others. “Everyone’s keen to learn,” he said. “The best thing about Balikatan is working shoulder to shoulder, understanding what the Americans do and what the Filipinos do. We learn from them. They learn from us.”
Balikatan’s effects are long lasting, 1st Lt. Milbert N. Kaw, the Philippine Army officer in charge at the construction site, told FORUM. “The renovation of the school building has a big impact to the community and the locals, especially to those students and teachers who will be using the facilities. In addition, the project has a long-term effect. It will help the students and teachers for the coming years.”
As they put the finishing touches on walls and ceilings, Philippine Soldiers under Kaw’s command worked in T-shirts that read “Building for peace and progress.” The combined military engineering teams built more than a foundation for a single school, he said. They built a better future for students and contributed to a stronger network among Allies and Partners across the region. “We are very happy to work with our U.S. and Australian counterparts and to strengthen the relationship and partnership and collaboration,” he said. “Balikatan has a big impact on each and every one.”
