Balikatan 2024: missiles, military aid, China tensions in focus as ‘biggest ever’ US-Philippines drills begin

The 39th Balikatan (“shoulder to shoulder” in Tagalog) exercises, which will continue through May 8, are set to involve 16,000 armed-forces personnel and observers from 14 countries.

Speaking at the opening ceremony on Monday, Philippine armed forces chief General Romeo Brawner Jnr said the drills represent “the essence of unity, collective responsibility and enduring partnership” between the Philippines and the US “and our partners”.

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As part of the Balikatan drills, Filipino soldiers will familiarise themselves with US military hardware and test the Philippines’ newly-acquired assets and equipment.

Military Sealift Command, the US Navy’s replenishment and transport arm, said it had delivered 554 pieces of equipment and shipping containers for the exercises to Subic Free Port, northwest of Manila, and would conduct a separate bilateral exercise with the Philippine military. It gave not further details about the equipment.

Two sophisticated missile systems, the Spyder and Typhon, are set to be demonstrated for the first time in the Philippines as part of the drills.

The Spyder – a mobile, ground-based, air defence system – is currently in use by the Philippine Air Force’s 960th Air and Missile Defence Group.

Army Colonel Michael Logico, the Philippine military’s spokesman for this year’s Balikatan exercises, told reporters on March 5 that the drills would “test the interoperability between our weapon systems and that of the United States.”

Renato de Castro, an international-relations professor at De La Salle University in Manila, described the purchase as part of the Philippine military’s shift from internal security to external