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'Full battle test' for this year's Balikatan drills -- AFP chief

Philippine News Agency

By Priam Nepomuceno
April 1, 2025, 3:59 pm

MANILA -- Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. on Tuesday said that this year's "Balikatan" exercise will feature a so-called "full battle test" where all military doctrines and procedures will be tested.

The AFP chief made this comment during his speech at the 38th founding anniversary of the Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom), based in Camp Servillano Aquino, Tarlac City.

"In a matter of days, we will be starting our 'Balikatan' exercises (with American military forces.) This is the 40th iteration of the 'Balikatan' exercises and most of the exercises will be conducted here in the area, the joint operational area of Nolcom," he said.

Nolcom covers Ilocos, Cordillera, Cagayan Regions and Central Luzon.

This year's "Balikatan" exercise is scheduled for late April up to mid-May. No specific details regarding participating troops, assets and types of drills that will be conducted are still to be released.

"Under your joint area of operations or joint operational area, most of the activities of the 'Balikatan' will held there. And then again, our (command and control), will be utilized to ensure that we have a common operational picture while we are conducting our full battle test," the AFP chief said.

This, Brawner said, involves testing all of the plans, doctrines, procedures that have developed in the past years.

"And this year we are going to test them. It's very important that we prepare for any eventuality," he stressed.

However, Brawner did not specify what these plans, doctrines and procedures were for security reasons.

"When I talk about warfare, we are already at war. I am not referring to the kinetic warfare that we see between Ukraine and Russia or between Israel and Hamas. But we are experiencing already cyber warfare, information warfare, cognitive warfare, political warfare," he added.

Nolcom, a shield against external threats

As this developed, Brawner lauded Nolcom for being a formidable shield against external threats.

"In fact, Nolcom is our frontliner here in the northern hemisphere. And as we saw a while ago in their shift to territorial defense, they have gone a long, long way already," he added. (PNA)