US, Philippines Launch Dual-Phase Exercise SABAK 2025 with 5,000 Troops

The joint drills involve warfighting training across land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace and focus on combat readiness and defense cooperation..

A Filipino soldier uses a controller to deploy a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), as part of joint army-to-army drills between the United States and the Philippines, in Laur, Nueva Ecija province, Philippines, on Aug. 9, 2024. Ezra Acayan/Getty Images

The Philippine army announced on Monday that it started joint military exercises “Salaknib” and “Balikatan” with the U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC), involving 2,000 U.S. troops and 3,000 Filipino military personnel.

With its focus on combat readiness and defense cooperation, the two-phase operation will run from March 24 to April 11, then resume on May 19, and continue until July 20.

The Philippine army’s website describes the operation, also known as SABAK 2025, as “continuous,” stating that it was designed to enhance “All-Domain Operations”—land, air, sea, space, and cyberspace aspects of warfighting—and sharpen its territorial capabilities while focussing on “safeguarding the Philippines.”

It goes on to say that the operation will provide critical training in “Humanitarian Civil Assistance, Information Operations, Counter-intelligence, and Protection” while honing its forces’ ability to cooperate with allies.

“Further, the exercise will tackle capability enhancement on operational Command and Control, Combined Arms Force-on-Force, Large-scale Operational Maneuvers, Combined Arms Live Fire Exercise, and Sustainment Operations in support of External Security Operations,” the Philippine army said.

The exercise is being hosted in Fort Bonifacio, in Taguig City, just north of the capital, Manila, in the Area of Responsibility (AOR) of the Philippines’ fifth and seventh infantry divisions.

The update is accompanied by images depicting the Philippine army’s vice commander, Maj. Gen. Leodevic B. Guinid, in an exchange with Deputy Commander USARPAC Brig. Gen. Jonathan A. Velishka, with staffers from both sides standing by.

While not yet publishing an official update on its website, USARPAC posted captioned images on its Facebook account on March 24 showing U.S. soldiers in various states of training.

In one update, it hails the division as the “dominant land force in the Indo-Pacific,” while in another, it reports on a subject matter expert exchange between its own forces and those of the Philippine army.

“Soldiers from the Philippine Army Aviation Regiment, alongside U.S. Army Capt. Sean Fitzgerald from Task Force Hammerhead, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, participated in a Subject Matter Expert Exchange (SMEE) focused on the Military Decision Making Process during Exercise Salaknib 2025 at Fort Magsaysay, Philippines,” an image caption states before briefly mirroring the host country’s stated purpose for the operation.

The start of SABAK 2025 comes two days after the USS Nimitz U.S. Navy aircraft carrier sailed out of Washington’s Puget Sound Shipyard in Bremerton as part of a six-ship strike group kitted out with nine aircraft squadrons.

A U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) report dated March 22 reported that the flotilla’s mission was “protecting security, freedom, and prosperity for the United States, our allies and partners, and demonstrating the U.S. Navy’s unwavering commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

According to the update, the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group (NIMCSG) includes five Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers: USS Curtis Wilbur, USS Gridley, USS Wayne E. Meyer, and USS Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee.

It further noted that the carrier’s nine squadrons comprise aircraft specializing in early warning, personnel and logistics transport, mail delivery, ground and air attack, and electronic warfare, as well as multipurpose helicopters equipped for anti-surface warfare and maritime strike operations.

The NIMCSG is part of the U.S. 3rd Fleet, an administrative division based in San Diego that oversees Pacific operations, as stated on the division’s website.

The DOD notes that the U.S. 3rd Fleet provides “realistic and relevant training” and that it collaborates with its allies “to advance a shared vision of a free, open, and secure Indo-Pacific.”

The commencement of SABAK 2025 comes three days after the DOD announced that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth would begin a tour of Hawaii, Guam, the Philippines, and Japan early this week.

According to the March 21 DOD readout, Hegseth will meet military and civilian leadership, U.S. and Philippine troops, and “advance security objectives with Philippine leaders.”

He is also slated to attend the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima in Japan and meet with the country’s leaders.