US troops put new Philippine military sites to test in Balikatan drill

MANILA – New military sites designated under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement between the U.S. and the Philippines allowed forces during the bilateral Balikatan exercise to test their strategic effectiveness and to work on improvement projects there.

EDCA allows the U.S. to fund improvement and construction of infrastructure at existing Philippine military bases and other locations as well as to rotationally deploy U.S. troops. The agreement was signed in 2014 and established six sites originally. In 2023, four more sites were added to the list.

The mutual defense treaty between the U.S. and Philippines established the EDCA sites in order to support combined training, exercises and interoperability between the two militaries.

“The Philippines retains sovereignty and control over EDCA sites,” U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Oscar Franquez, spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Manila, told Defense News. “EDCA sites are not U.S. bases, and the U.S. does not maintain permanent forces or footprints in the Philippines.”

The U.S. government has funded over $100 million in improvement projects to advance the modernization of the Philippines Armed Forces.

Three out of the four new EDCA sites were used for major events within the Balikatan exercise series, which began in late April and wrapped up on May 9.

Those three sites are locations strategic to the Philippines’ territorial defense . One is located on Balabac Island, south of Palawan Island. The island borders the southeast portion of the South China Sea, where the Philippines continues to defend its territory from Chinese aggression at places like the Second Thomas Shoal, where the Philippines marines operate aboard a shipwrecked World War II-era tank landing ship, the Sierra Madre.

The other site is at La-Lo airport in north central Luzon, a commercial airport being used during Balikatan for operations to project air assault missions into the northern islands within close proximity to Taiwan.

“The use of new and existing enhanced defense cooperation agreement sites during Balikatan 24 enhanced combined training and interoperability between the U.S. and Armed Forces of the Philippines, allowing us to operate together more efficiently,” U.S. Marine Capt. Colin Kennard, a spokesperson for the Combined Joint Information Bureau at Balikatan, told Defense News.

At La-Lo, U.S. Air Force C-130s delivered vital assets like the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).

CH-47F Chinooks and UH-60M Black Hawks could be seen regularly taking off and landing, conducting air assaults into the northern islands, such as Basco, where part of the U.S. Army’s 1st Multidomain Task Force was situated for operations.

La-Lo also hosted a medical command post during the exercise.

“Because of its proximity,” La-lo “allows us to more efficiently support training events that focus on coastal defense and maritime key terrain in the Batanes Islands,” Kennard said. Basco is part of that island chain.

The final new site used during Balikatan was the Naval Base Camilo Osias in Northern Luzon.

The fourth new EDCA site, Camp Melchor Dela Cruz in Gamu, Isabela – located in the central western portion of Luzon — was not used during Balikatan.

Of the original six EDCA designated sites, Fort Magsaysay served as a central basing location for Balikatan as it has in the past, particularly hosting the exercise’s jungle training.

U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Justin Farcassi, an engineer equipment mechanic with Marine Wing Support Squadron 174, Marine Aircraft Group 24, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, guides a Millennium Military Vehicle during a fly-away forward arming and refueling point operation in support of Exercise Balikatan 24 at Lal-lo Airport, Lal-lo, Cayayan, Philippines, April 27, 2024. (Photo by Cpl. Trent A. Henry/U.S. Marine Corps)

Training enhancements

Directly following Balikatan, during a second phase of the Salaknib exercise that kicked off in the weeks prior to Balikatan, the U.S. Army is bringing its Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center Exportable, or JPMRC X, to Fort Magsaysay, which marks the the first time the most extensive iteration of the exportable version of the major training center is deployed west of the international date line.

The deployment of the JPMRC X to the Philippines will “help enable, assist and allow the Philippine army to begin to establish their own training center in the vicinity of Fort Magsaysay,” Gen. Charles Flynn, U.S. Army Pacific Command commander, said during a May 8 media roundtable.

“We’re helping them create that capability,” he said, “Where they choose to put it and how to build it is their own decision, but they turned to us for the expertise that we have and the JPMRC is a really concrete example of assistance that we’re giving them in and around their EDCA sites.”

In Hawaii, the JPMRC is a combat training center rotation that validates an infantry brigade combat team and brings in multinational and joint partners in an immersive training environment to conduct fully instrumented, live, virtual, constructive support to achieve specific training objectives to validate the BCT. Each brigade spends about 12 months prior preparing and training with JPMRC being the culminating training exercise.

The Army’s 25th Infantry Division is bringing the instrumentation systems, an exercise control group and an opposition force to the Philippines to conduct the JPMRC training during the second phase of Salaknib and will team up with the Philippines’ 7th Infantry Division for the event, Brig. Gen. David Zinn, 25th ID deputy commanding general, told Defense News in an interview at Fort Magsaysay.

“We’re very excited about it,” Zinn said. “Number one, it’s a proof of principle that we can do this. Number two, it’s a demonstration of the value of this to our partners who I hope, in the future, that they run this capability internally to understand the value of a brigade level training exercise with a dedicated opposition force.”

The Army is also now engaged in improving range facilities at Fort Magsaysay, Flynn noted. “That helps the Philippine army because now they have an improved range, but also helps us because when we’re over there for Balikatan and Salaknib, we have better range facilities to be able to operate on,” Flynn said.

The Army will continue to help improve the EDCA sites over time, Flynn said. “I think what has become more focused is that the Philippine military is now focused on territorial defense operations and that shift from counterinsurgency is in support of our allies and in support of our treaty allies. That defense matters,” he added. “We help defend terrain, we help defend people and ... we help them protect and defend their territorial integrity and national sovereignty.”

Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.

马尼拉——根据美国和菲律宾之间加强防务合作协议指定的新军事基地，使美菲两国部队在“肩并肩”双边联合军演期间能够测试其战略效能并在那里开展改进项目。

《加强防务合作协议》（EDCA）允许美国资助菲律宾现有军事基地及其他地点的基础设施改善和建设，并允许美国轮换部署美军。该协议于2014年签署，最初设立了六个地点。2023年，又新增了四个地点。

美国和菲律宾之间的共同防御条约设立了EDCA基地，以支持两国军队之间的联合训练、演习和互操作性。

美国驻马尼拉大使馆发言人、美国海军陆战队中尉奥斯卡·弗兰克斯告诉《防务新闻》：“菲律宾保留对《加强防务合作协议》（EDCA）相关地点的主权和控制权。EDCA相关地点并非美国军事基地，美国在菲律宾没有常驻部队或军事存在。”

美国政府已拨款超过 1 亿美元用于改善项目，以推进菲律宾武装部队的现代化进程。

四个新的 EDCA 地点中有三个用于“肩并肩”系列演习中的重大活动，该系列演习于 4 月下旬开始，5 月 9 日结束。

这三个地点对菲律宾的领土防御具有战略意义。其中一个位于巴拉巴克岛，在巴拉望岛以南。该岛与南海东南部接壤，菲律宾持续在南海抵御中国的侵略，例如在第二仁爱礁附近海域，菲律宾海军陆战队就在那里使用一艘二战时期沉没的坦克登陆舰“马德雷山号”进行作战。

另一个地点位于吕宋岛中北部的拉洛机场，这是一个商业机场，在“肩并肩”联合军演期间，该机场被用于向台湾附近的北部岛屿投送空中突击任务。

“在‘​​肩并肩24’联合军演期间，利用新的和现有的加强型防务合作协议基地，加强了美国和菲律宾武装部队之间的联合训练和互操作性，使我们能够更有效地共同行动，”美国海军陆战队上尉、肩并肩联合信息局发言人科林·肯纳德告诉《防务新闻》。

在拉洛空军基地，美国空军 C-130 运输机运送了高机动性火箭炮系统 (HIMARS) 等重要装备。

经常可以看到 CH-47F 奇努克直升机和 UH-60M 黑鹰直升机起降，对北部岛屿（如巴斯科岛）进行空中突击，美国陆军第一多域特遣部队的一部分就驻扎在那里执行作战任务。

演习期间，拉洛还设立了医疗指挥所。

肯纳德说：“由于地理位置接近，拉洛基地使我们能够更有效地支持以巴坦群岛沿海防御和海上关键地形为重点的训练活动。”巴斯科是该岛链的一部分。

并肩作战期间使用的最后一个新地点是吕宋岛北部的卡米洛奥西亚斯海军基地。

第四个新的 EDCA 站点是位于伊莎贝拉州 Gamu 的 Melchor Dela Cruz 营地，位于吕宋岛中西部，在“肩并肩”行动期间没有使用。

在最初指定的六个EDCA地点中，马格赛赛堡像过去一样，是“肩并肩”联合军演的中心基地，特别是负责该演习的丛林训练。

2024年4月27日，在菲律宾卡亚延省拉洛市拉洛机场，美国海军陆战队下士贾斯汀·法卡西（Justin Farcassi）正在引导一辆“千禧年”军用车辆进行前沿武器补给和加油作业，以支援“肩并肩24”联合军演。法卡西是海军陆战队第1航空联队第24航空大队第174航空支援中队的一名工程设备机械师。（照片由美国海军陆战队下士特伦特·A·亨利拍摄）

培训改进

在“肩并肩”联合军演结束后，在“肩并肩”联合军演前几周启动的“萨拉克尼布”演习第二阶段，美国陆军将其联合太平洋多国战备中心出口型（JPMRC X）部署到马格赛赛堡。这是该主要训练中心出口型版本最大规模的首次部署在国际日期变更线以西。

美国太平洋陆军司令查尔斯·弗林将军在 5 月 8 日的媒体圆桌会议上表示，向菲律宾部署 JPMRC X 将“帮助菲律宾军队在马格赛赛堡附近建立自己的训练中心”。

“我们正在帮助他们建立这种能力，”他说，“他们选择在哪里建设以及如何建设是他们自己的决定，但他们向我们寻求专业知识，而 JPMRC 就是我们向他们在 EDCA 场地及其周边地区提供援助的一个非常具体的例子。”

在夏威夷，联合多国联合军事训练中心（JPMRC）是一个轮换进行的作战训练中心，旨在检验步兵旅级战斗队的实力，并邀请多国联合伙伴在沉浸式训练环境中开展全套仪器设备辅助的实战、虚拟和建设性支援，以实现特定的训练目标，从而验证步兵旅级战斗队的资质。每个旅级战斗队在参加JPMRC之前都会进行大约12个月的准备和训练，JPMRC是最终的训练成果。

陆军第 25 步兵师将携带仪器系统、演习控制小组和一支假想敌部队前往菲律宾，在“萨拉克尼布”演习第二阶段进行联合多用途军事训练中心 (JPMRC) 训练。第 25 步兵师副司令大卫·津恩准将在马格赛赛堡接受《防务新闻》采访时表示，该师将与菲律宾第 7 步兵师合作开展此次演习。

“我们对此感到非常兴奋，”津恩说。“首先，这证明了我们能够做到这一点。其次，这向我们的合作伙伴展示了这项技术的价值。我希望他们将来也能在内部开展类似的训练，从而了解与专门的假想敌部队进行旅级训练演习的价值。”

弗林指出，陆军目前也在对马格赛赛堡的靶场设施进行改进。“这不仅对菲律宾陆军有所帮助，因为他们现在拥有了更完善的靶场，而且对我们也有好处，因为当我们前往菲律宾参加‘肩并肩’和‘萨拉克尼布’联合军演时，我们有更好的靶场设施可以进行作战，”弗林说道。

弗林表示，陆军将继续协助改善《加强防务合作协议》（EDCA）的各项设施。“我认为，菲律宾军方现在更加注重领土防御行动，这种从反叛乱行动向领土防御行动的转变是为了支持我们的盟友和条约盟友。这种防御至关重要，”他补充道。“我们帮助保卫领土，我们帮助保卫人民……我们帮助他们保护和捍卫领土完整和国家主权。”

珍·贾德森是一位屡获殊荣的记者，为《防务新闻》报道陆地战争。她也曾为《政治报》和《内幕防务》工作。她拥有波士顿大学新闻学硕士学位和凯尼恩学院文学学士学位。