A contingent from Marine Rotational Force-Darwin began coastal defense and amphibious warfare drills with their Philippine counterparts in Mindanao this month.
About 480 American and Philippine personnel have been participating in Marine Exercise 2025 in the southern province of Maguindanao del Norte. Activities include jungle warfare, coastal defense and amphibious operations. Joining the Philippine and U.S. Marines are a myriad of locally-based Philippine Army, National Police, Coast Guard, and reserve units.
“Interoperability is the key. It is not enough to be skilled individually—we must be able to operate seamlessly with our counterparts, whether from the Philippine Marine Corps or allied forces. MAREX 2025 provides an invaluable opportunity to exchange knowledge, refine coordination, and enhance the Littoral Response Group Concept,” stated Maj. Gen. Donald M. Gumiran of the Philippine Army’s 6th Infantry Division during the exercise’s opening ceremony.
A joint littoral live-fire exercise on the Celebes Sea – a waterway recently utilized by Chinese warships spotted off Australia – at Datu Blah Sinsuat is scheduled on Wednesday. The drills are slated to end on Friday, a week before the beginning of exercises under Balikatan 2025.
Compared to other military drills held between Manila and Washington in recent years, such as Kamandag, Balikatan and Salaknib, the Marine Exercise series has occurred in Central Mindanao for two of its three iterations.
Formerly a hotbed of communist rebellion and Islamic secessionist movements, the country’s second-largest island was Manila’s primary security focus until the culmination of counterinsurgency initiatives and a peace process in recent years. While limited fighting still occurs against communist insurgents and ISIS-related elements, Chinese warships and coast guard vessels transiting through waters off Mindanao in recent years have elevated Philippine territorial defense concerns.
Manila deployed its new Marine Security Battalion, a littoral maritime security unit, to the island of Tawi-Tawi last summer following Chinese passages. Western Mindanao Command concurrently activated Joint Task Force Poseidon for territorial defense operations and the surveillance of southern sea lanes.
U.S. Army and contractor presence stemming from Operation Enduring Freedom-Philippines has remained in Mindanao amid the shift from internal to external operations. An Army drone unit operating out of Edwin Andrews Air Base was seen overflying a resupply mission to BRP Sierra Madre (LT-57) in 2023.
Washington’s continuing support for internal security operations was recently highlighted through a deadly crash of a contractor aircraft in Maguindanao del Sur province in February.
