The first India-Philippines military exercise in the South China Sea strengthened the nations’ resolve to uphold maritime boundaries and promote secure, free and prosperous navigation.
The two-day sail in August 2025 “sends a powerful signal of solidarity, strength in partnership and the energy of cooperation between two vibrant democracies in the Indo-Pacific,” said Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) chief of staff. The exercise followed the Indian Navy’s four-day port call in Manila and occurred as Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. prepared to meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, where the leaders elevated their nations’ strategic partnership and vowed to deepen defense, trade and maritime cooperation.
The Indian Navy guided-missile destroyer INS Delhi, anti-submarine corvette INS Kiltan and tanker INS Shakti sailed with the Philippine Navy frigates BRP Jose Rizal and BRP Miguel Malvar, according to the AFP. Military aircraft also participated in the drills, which included rendezvous operations, communication checks, air defense exercises and maneuvering.
To boost deterrence, the Philippines must enhance its defenses and partner with like-minded nations, “and that’s what we’re doing with India,” Brawner said, according to The Associated Press.
Two Chinese Communist Party military ships, including a guided-missile destroyer, patrolled about 46 kilometers from one of the Philippine frigates during the exercise, Philippine military officials said. China illegally claims most of the South China Sea despite an international tribunal’s 2016 ruling dismissing Beijing’s arbitrary assertion. In recent years, China Coast Guard ships have rammed, blocked and fired water cannons at Philippine military and fishing vessels operating lawfully within the Philippines’ internationally recognized exclusive economic zone.
The AFP also has conducted maritime exercises in the vital waterway, part of which Manila calls the West Philippine Sea, with its longtime treaty ally the United States and partners including Australia, France, Japan and New Zealand. Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam also assert rights to areas that China claims in the sea, a global trade route.
The Indian Navy’s port visit to the Philippines and the recent bilateral exercise stemmed from talks to enhance maritime relations, including Coast Guard and Navy cooperation, the Philstar.com news service reported. At the nations’ first government-level maritime dialogue in December 2024, they committed to work together on at-sea law enforcement, disaster response and environmental protection, and to share information and best practices. They also pledged to uphold the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, under which the tribunal invalidated China’s sweeping sovereignty claim.
Like the Philippines in the South China Sea, India faces security challenges from China in the Himalayas. China and India claim the same territory along their mountainous border, with the decades-long dispute spurring deadly military clashes.
“The visit of the Indian naval ships to the Philippines is a powerful testament to the enduring friendship and growing maritime cooperation between the two countries,” said Shri Harsh Kumar Jain, India’s ambassador to the Philippines. “It also symbolizes our shared commitment to the freedom of navigation and a free, open and rules-based Indo-Pacific region.”
