"Balikatan" aptly describes the existing bond
between Filipino and American servicemen participating in this year's joint
military maneuvers.
This was stressed by Vice Admiral Alexander Lopez,
Philippine "Balikatan" exercise director, during Monday's opening
ceremonies.
" "Balikatan' 2016 brings our respective armed
forces together in a bilateral activity that will not only evaluate and
validate our doctrines and procedures in joint combined military operations but
more importantly we strengthen our long-established camaraderie and friendship
and advances the security cooperation that we have nurtured for many
years," he added.
"'Balikatan' or shouldering the load together in the
vernacular perfectly describes the bond between our nations have been advanced
since the Mutual Defense Treaty between the Philippines and the United States
was signed and ratified in 1951. Since then we have continuously addressed the
serious concerns posed by the evolving security environment and we have done so
effectively because of our greater collaborative undertakings which are
instrumental in enhancing the relationship and inter-operability between our
armed forces," Lopez pointed out.
He stressed that the yearly military maneuvers allow
Filipino and American troops to learn from each other, gaining valuable
knowledge and insights that will improve not just defenses against conventional
challenges but also approaches in addressing non-traditional ones.
And in confronting these challenges, the Armed Forces of the
Philippines (AFP) has expanded its strategic and long-lasting partnerships with
other regional allies, Lopez said.
" As such while the 'Balikatan' exercises remain to be
bilateral between the Philippines
and the United States , the
defense and security cooperation fortified with Australia
and Japan
Active participation of Australian and Japanese units in
this year's manuevers have sent a clear message across the seas that our
partnerships remain undaunted united and strong.
"Undoubtedly 'Balikatan' 2016 has immensely grown in strength
and in scale, this year’s exercise will again afford us the opportunity to test
and validate concepts and doctrines specially of new technologies and hardware,
this will greatly aid in the capacity and capability developments of the AFP as
more focus and efforts are giving from internal security to territorial defense
operations," Lopez pointed.
And building on the gains of last year's exercises, both
Filipino and American forces stand to witness the strengthening of the command
and control structure and protocol not only between and among AFP units but
also with national civil authorities and other agencies of the government.
Lopez said coordination will simultaneously serve as the
comprehensive approach in addressing territorial defense and humanitarian
assistance and disaster relief challenges.
Aside from this, 'Balikatan' also enhances the capabilities
of Filipino units in aiding our countrymen and neighbors in the event of any
natural or man-made calamity
"Equally important to the success of 'Balikatan' 2016
is the conduct of series of preliminary 'Balikatan' unilateral defense planning
and execution exercises, through this aside from honing the skills and
expertise of the battle staff of the general headquarters and also of those in
the unified commands all participating units have also been aligned to the one
exercise scenario to attain these desired objectives," he added.
"Moreover valuable lessons learned to its otherwise
ideal conduct were also identified, the application of the combined logistics
point, distributed operations and alternative platforms are also sound of the
concepts for testing and evaluation, the positive outcomes will significantly
enhance inter-operability and efficiency within our armed forces in the conduct
of joint as well as combined operations in the near future," Lopez
emphasized.
"Moreover a mobilization exercise for the joint rapid
reaction force with a follow on operations concept will also provide impetus to
its transition as the national manuever force of the AFP," he revealed.
Another breakthrough for "Balikatan" 2016 is the
recent addition of science and technology advancements in activities, this
include the Philippine-initiated software-defined simulation technology for
both platform and battle staff training, Lopez disclosed.
Other relevant technology insertions designed as force
multipliers to improve efficiency across the organizations provide much needed
enhancement in the AFP.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=872994
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