Philippines, Aussie troops hold ground assault exercise

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino and Australian military forces have conducted a ground assault operation in a three-week bilateral exercise held at the Channel Island in Northern Territory, Australia on Sept. 3.

Joint military forces carried out an attack on a mock target to defeat a supposed threat.

“(Exercise Carabaroo 2023) strengthens tactical coordination and increases survivability, lethality, command and control within the urban environment while enhancing the interoperability of multinational combined arms teams,” said Philippine Army spokesman Col. Xerxes Trinidad.

A total of 138 Filipino soldiers were sent to Australia to join the exercise.

Exercise Carabaroo is part of the Australian Army’s Exercise Predator’s Run, an annual multinational training activity that simulates littoral combined arms maneuvers in a large-scale force-on-force environment.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Australian Defence Force concluded its first ever joint bilateral exercise, Exercise Alon, on Aug. 31. The exercise was part of Australia’s Indo-Pacific Endeavour program.

Exercise Alon will be held once every two years.

Air Force

The Philippine Air Force (PAF) is set to acquire 32 more Sikorski-70i Black Hawk helicopters in the next three years, making it the largest S-70i operator in the world, according to Sikorsky Aircraft, a company owned by Lockheed Martin.

The PAF currently has 15 S-70i Black Hawk helicopters.

Sikorsky earlier revealed it signed an international reseller agreement with Asian Aerospace Corporation to become the only Original Equipment Manufacturer, authorized to resell spare parts and offer repair services for Black Hawk helicopters in the Philippines.

“We’re excited to partner with Sikorsky to deliver authorized parts and high-quality repair services for our Black Hawk customers here in the Philippines. This alliance ensures timely and dedicated support to the largest S-70i Black Hawk fleet in the world,” said Asian Aerospace executive vice president Peter Rodriguez.

Anti-torpedo

French firm Naval Group equipped two Philippine Navy frigates with its anti-torpedo module.

“The group’s extensive portfolio opens many opportunities to address the entire range of Philippine naval needs from development of the naval forces to the constitution of a world-class submarine force,” the Naval Group said in a statement issued through the French embassy in Manila.

Naval Group’s Contralto anti-torpedo reaction module was installed into the C-Guard decoy launching system of the Philippe Navy’s two Jose Rizal-class frigates on Aug. 31.

Testing of the Contralto module was performed at the Subic-Agila Bay on Aug. 31.–  Pia Lee-Brago