After 32 years, an American military presence is set to return to Subic Bay under a new Marine Corps prepositioning program that will see the service stage equipment in the Philippines.
Last month, the U.S. Marine Corps quietly leased a 57,000-square-foot warehouse at the former Subic Bay Naval Supply Depot. The service will lease the facility from Amerasia International Terminal Services Inc., which operates the warehouse alongside Anglicotech Philippines and KBR Overseas Inc.
Col. Luke Watson, commanding officer of Blount Island Command, claimed in a Subic Bay Management Authority release that the facilities would only store vehicles, communications equipment and engineering assets. He further stated that no munitions would be stored at the former Naval Supply Depot. Watson also met with local administrators to discuss logistics and port operations at Subic Bay.
Local Philippine and Marine Corps releases emphasized that the warehouse would be used for humanitarian assistance and disaster response efforts in-country and across the Indo-Pacific. Washington and Manila have previously cooperated on constructing similar storage facilities at select military bases under the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, a treaty that permits American rotational deployment and funding to mutually agreed sites across the Philippines.
“This is a great stride for the Subic Bay Freeport in assisting foreign allies in their thrust to provide humanitarian aid and relief assistance in the Indo-Pacific Region,” said Subic Bay Management Authority Chairman and Administrator Eduardo Jose L. Aliño.
The Naval Supply Depot warehouse is set to host equipment under the new Marine Corps Prepositioning Program-Philippines. A new addition under Blount Island Command, the Philippines-based staging will be the first of its kind outside of the Marine Corps Prepositioning Program – Norway.
Listings related to the program with American defense contractor KBR began appearing last August. According to the job summaries, while initial training will take place in Jacksonville, Florida—the same location as Blount Island Command—the final posting will be at Subic Bay. A request for information on USMC Prepositioning Plans and Data Support covering Marine Corps Prepositioning Program-Philippines was also released in early March.
Plans to establish a staging facility at Subic Bay date back to 2023 via the Agila Equipment Staging Program. Named after a 300-hectare shipyard procured by American investment firm Cerberus Capital Management, the program covered field maintenance and supply support according to Marine Forces Pacific sources cited in a Naval Postgraduate School thesis analyzing prepositioning in the Philippines. The thesis claimed that Vecturus, an American defense logistics contractor with a facility at Agila Subic, was contracted for the plan. However, the current status of the staging program is unclear.
While U.S. forces withdrew from Subic Bay in 1992, American warships and troops have refueled and offloaded for exercises at the strategic port since. Military Sealift Command vessels have also conducted repairs at the former base. In recent years, Subic Bay has seen the activation of the Philippine Navy’s largest base and a surge of American troops every Spring for large-scale military exercises.
Washington and Manila have stepped up military cooperation amid Beijing’s increasingly assertive actions in the South China Sea, which have led to clashes between Philippine and Chinese forces.
Since 2023, American support has included a task force based in the Philippines, Marine Corps drones, Navy overflights of contested maritime features, a strategic deployment of the Army’s Typhon Mid-Range Capability in Northern Luzon and transfers of unmanned surface vessels.
