MANY, we ourselves included, will be keenly reading the body language and statements when US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will visit Manila on March 28-29, on the first stop of a regional tour that will also take him to Hawaii, Guam, and Japan.
The trip aims to boost relations with “like-minded countries” and, particularly for the Philippines, “to advance security objectives with Philippine leaders and meet with US and Philippine forces.”
Hegseth, 44, will meet his Philippine counterpart, Gilberto Teodoro, 60, and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., 67, with Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez saying the talks will touch on China’s increasingly bold and brazen-faced actions in the South China Sea and “more significant support” for Philippine security forces from Washington.
The two-day visit comes as the US and Philippine militaries prepare for the Balikatan military exercises, held in the Philippines from April 21 to May 9, with 10,000 US troops participating in the drills which, in 2025, mark their 40th anniversary, alongside 6,000 service members from the Philippines, Australia and Japan.
Personnel from Canada, France, South Korea, and the United Kingdom will also take part.
Exercise Balikatan, from the Tagalog root word which means in English “shoulder-to-shoulder, is the most prominent annual military exercise between the Philippines and the United States.
The exercises have been the cornerstone of Philippines–United States military relations since the closure of US bases in the Philippines and aim to enhance the military-to-military coordination and readiness of both the AFP and the US military, supporting the US-Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty.
The Mutual Defense Treaty between the United States and the Philippines recognizes that an attack in the Pacific on either would endanger the peace of both and both agree to act in concert to meet the common danger.
It was signed on Aug. 30, 1951 by their representatives in Washington, DC and has eight articles.
The size of the exercises is slightly down from the 2023 iteration, when more than 17,600 troops participated, this year’s exercise involve a greater display of kinetic power, which generally refers to the use of force involving traditional weapons like bullets, bombs, or missiles, while “non-kinetic” encompasses strategies that don’t rely on physical impact, like cyberattacks or electronic warfare.
We understand the Philippine Air Force will deploy its Spyder mobile air defense systems, which it purchased from Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems in 2022 while the Philippine Navy plans to fire its Rafael Spike NLOS missiles, South Korean C-Star ship-launched surface-to-surface missiles, and French-made Mistral 3 surface-to-air missiles.
Notably, Balikatan will involve a “full battle test,” which will include live-fire missile tests and the sinking of a decommissioned World War II-era Philippine Navy vessel.
Against speculation, the US Army is reported not to conduct a live-fire operation of its intermediate-range Typhon missile system, which it transported to the Philippines ahead of last year’s Balikatan exercise.