PH, Australia armies kick off 6-week tactical exercise

From the Philippine News Agency (Feb 21, 2023): PH, Australia armies kick off 6-week tactical exercise (By Priam Nepomuceno)

(Photo courtesy of 6th Infantry Division, Philippine Army)

MANILA – Philippine Army (PA) and Australian Army units on Monday formally started their six-week training exercise which aims to improve the capabilities of both services in urban warfare and other related combat specialization tactics.

The exercises kicked off at Camp Siongco, Awang, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao Del Norte which was joined by the 62nd and 63rd Division Reconnaissance Companies of the 6th Infantry Division and the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment.

"The PAAAE 23-1 aims to enhance the capabilities and skills of personnel in urban operations; long-range marksmanship; tactical combat casualty care; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations; and small unit leaders training through the exchange of techniques, tactics, and procedures," Army spokesperson Col. Xerxes Trinidad said in a statement Tuesday.

The exercise will end by March 31, he added.

Meanwhile, Trinidad said the 7th Infantry Division and 5th Security Force Assistance Brigade, United States Army also kicked off on Monday the Philippines-United States (PH-US) Warfighting Functions Exchange 2023-1 (WFE 23-1) at Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija.

The two-week PH-US WFE aims to meet mutual training and modernization objectives of both forces across the warfighting functions domain and other training needs through an exchange of best practices, lessons learned, and tactics, techniques, and procedures with US counterparts.

All training participants came from the 71st Division Reconnaissance Company; Alpha Company, 99th Infantry Battalion; 1st Brigade Combat Team; and Alpha Company, 103rd Infantry Battalion (P), 5th Infantry Division.

The WFE 23-1 will run until March 3.

“Moreover, the iteration serves as the Sustained Warfighting Enhancement and Evaluation Program (SWEEP) of the participating units and also as a gated training for the upcoming PH-US combined exercises: Salaknib-23 and Balikatan 28-23," Trinidad said.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1195694