US, Philippine forces repel simulated invasion in Baliktan drill
By Robina Asido
LAOAG CITY -- Amid the tension in the Taiwan Strait, United States and Philippine forces repelled a simulated invasion in the northern province of Luzon using missiles and artillery fire during the counter landing exercise at the Balikatan drill on Monday.
At least 200 American and Filipino troops joined in the drill that started before 9 am.
During the drill, US and Philippine forces fired at five white floating targets to prevent it from reaching the shoreline as it is simulated as amphibious assault vehicles from invading forces.
Lt. Gen. Michael Cederholm, commanding general of Marine Expeditionary Force, said the counter landing exercise at the La Paz Sand Dunes here was a "success".
"It started out with simulated enemy approaching the shores. So you had 155 (mm) howitzers shooting out about seven clicks into the water at targets that were out there. Highly successful. Then the exercise goes to the wave... 105 (mm howitzers) comes up from short, direct fire weapons to take care of the mid-range targets that were coming in," he said.
"Then we have AFP and the United States Marines in a defensive position. They... add a few 50 caliber (machine guns) and Javelin shots that were completely impressive... direct hits, and then you have the (Armed Forces of the Philippines) AFP and US Marines laying down fire simulating that the adversary force has come ashore, and then they repel the attack. And that's designed for the whole defense of the maritime terrain. And that's exactly(how) the exercise went that way," he added.
Cederholm said all the target sets that were built for the drill disappeared.
Cederholm also stressed that the exercise "went off very well".
''From my vantage point, it went off very well and I credit that all the way on down to the tactical level, all the way on down to the riflemen that were out there to those shooting the howitzers and the artillery, to their leaders, to the range control and safety officers. They came together as one team and really made for an effective and safe execution. So we didn't have any surprises that I could tell from my vantage point," he said.
Cederholm stressed that the exercise between the Philippine and the United States in Laoag is not intended for "any third party" but only to enhance interoperability between their forces.
"We don't do this for any third party. We don't do this for messaging. We do this to create interoperability to create readiness to create integration on such capabilities. And being able to command and control, change the battlespace, employee fires, move about practice, littoral mobility, multimodal littoral mobility, all those things that we've planned in this exercise, so there's no significance to this location," he said.
PH-US Balikatan Exercise 39-2024 director, Maj. Gen. Marvin Licudine also noted improvements on the interoperability and integration of US and Philippine forces compared to previous Balikatan exercises.
"Certainly there were improvements now, compared to last year and the past 38 years... The interoperability and integration of the forces has certainly been enhanced and develop particularly in the maritime exercise that we have in Palawan," he said.
"The staff exercises that we have, I think, on our part of the AFP we have improved intellectually and raise the level of competence of our soldiers and officers leading our armed forces," he added.
During the counter landing live fire exercise the Coast Guard District Northwestern Luzon deployed Japan-made vessels BRP Melchora Aquino and BRP Malapascua to ensure the security and safety within the drill area.
"Moreover, the Special Operations Unit-NWLZN and Coast Guard Station Ilocos Norte are conducting seaborne patrol to ensure that fishing bancas and vessels will not enter the exercise zone to prevent untoward incident," said PCG. DMS
