AFP, US complete 4th West PH Sea exercise

The Armed Forces of the Philippines and the United States military completed on Friday another round of joint maritime exercises in the West Philippine Sea, the fourth bilateral maritime cooperative activity between the allies this year as they continue to deepen defense cooperation amid persistent tensions in the disputed waters.

The six-day Maritime Cooperative Activity (MCA), held from Sunday to Friday this week, brought together Philippine and US naval, air and coast guard assets for a series of interoperability drills, the military said on Saturday.

READ: AFP: 3rd PH-US maritime cooperative activity in WPS successful

Participating Philippine forces included the frigate BRP Diego Silang, FA-50 fighter aircraft, an AW109 helicopter, C-208B aircraft, Sokol helicopters, and Philippine Coast Guard vessels BRP Melchora Aquino and BRP Sindangan.

Interoperability

The United States deployed the US Coast Guard cutters Charles Moulthrope and Emlen Tunnell, a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft and personnel from the 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment.

According to the AFP, the exercise included search-and-rescue operations, visit-board-search-and-seizure drills, communications exercises, division tactics maneuvers, photo exercises and joint fires rehearsals aimed at improving interoperability between the two militaries.

“The successful conduct of the MCA highlights the enduring commitment of the Philippines and the United States to strengthen maritime cooperation, enhance maritime domain awareness, and reaffirm support for a rules-based international order in the Indo-Pacific region,” the AFP said in a statement.

The latest exercise is the fourth bilateral MCA between the allies this year and comes as Manila and Washington continue expanding defense cooperation amid recurring confrontations between Philippine and Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea.

The drills followed the departure of the Philippine Navy contingent to the Rim of the Pacific 2026 exercise, the world’s largest multinational naval exercise hosted by the United States in Hawaii.

Beijing claims nearly all of the South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea, waters in the western portion of the country’s 370-kilometer exclusive economic zone. It continues to ignore a 2016 ruling by an international arbitral tribunal that nullified its claims and upheld Manila’s sovereign rights over these waters. INQ