U.S. and Philippine troops will practice island raids during ‘shoulder to shoulder’ exercise troops prepare to board a Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey on Calayan Island, Philippines, April 23, 2023. (Paley Fenner/U.S. Marine Corps)
Members of the Hawaii-based 25th Infantry Division and 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment will helicopter onto Philippine islands during a three-week annual exercise that kicked off this week.
The Balikatan, or “shoulder to shoulder,” drills include 16,000 troops, mostly from the U.S. and Philippines, and occur amid high tensions over Beijing’s claims to maritime territory held by the Philippines in the South China Sea.
Clashes between the Philippine and Chinese coast guards have increased near Second Thomas Shoal since last summer. Chinese vessels with water cannons blast Philippine resupply vessels bound for a ship stranded on the shoal off Palawan. The BRP Sierra Madre serves as Philippine outpost safeguarding its claims.
The air assault component of the Balikatan exercise will start May 1 or May 2, Col. Rob Shaw, who commands 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, said by phone Tuesday from Fort Magsaysay, Philippines.
Shaw, who leads a force of 750 soldiers in the Philippines, said planners have yet to decide which islands will be involved.
During last year’s Balikatan, 25th ID soldiers, Marines and Filipino troops dropped onto the islands of Fuga, Calayan and Batan, which guard a key strait near Taiwan.
Marine Corps MV-22 Ospreys fly over Calayan Island, Philippines, during a Balikatan drill on April 23, 2023. (Paley Fenner/U.S. Marine Corps)
That drill sent a message to China that America is ready to defend its ally’s sea territory, Maj. Gen. Joseph Ryan, then-commander of 25th ID, said at the time.
China’s President Xi Jinping in December said Taiwan must inevitably reunite with the mainland, and his country has never renounced the use of force to do so.
Next week’s air assault will involve members of 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, Shaw said. They’ll launch, along with Marines and Australian and Filipino troops, from bases on Luzon in CH-47 Chinook and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters operated by the 25th ID Combat Aviation Brigade.
“We are showing that we can project force very quickly with a combined force,” he said. “We are going to integrate our partners in as many aspects of the tactical operation as we can.”
The 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team — Bronco Brigade — is at the peak of its training cycle, having spent November at the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center in Hawaii, Shaw said.
Soldiers from the brigade arrived in the Philippines last month and participated in the Salaknib exercise with Filipino forces ahead of Balikatan. They will be in the islands until mid-June, he said.
Trainers from 25th ID’s Lightning Academy and their Filipino counterparts will provide jungle warfare instruction to 100 U.S. and Filipino troops during Balikatan, Shaw said.
Getting to know the locals is an important aspect of the drills, the Bronco Brigade’s senior enlisted adviser, Command Sgt. Maj. Shawn Curry, said during Tuesday’s phone call.
“For a lot of our soldiers, it’s the first time these young Americans have left the country,” he said. “For the Filipino Army it’s similar. It’s the first time meeting American soldiers.
