MANILA, PHILIPPINES—The Marines will practice Corps-level command and control, 21st-century foraging and air assault in a projection into the first island chain during an upcoming exercise in the Philippines.
Marine Rotational Force-Darwin, alongside its counterparts from the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Japan Ground Self-Defense Force and Republic of Korea Marine Corps, will drill across the length of the Southeast Asian archipelago from the southernmost island of Tawi-Tawi to the northernmost territories in Batanes starting next week in the ninth iteration of KAMANDAG.
A Tagalog acronym that translates to “cooperation of the warriors of the sea,” the drills have expanded in scope and scale in recent years as Manila sought enhanced defense cooperation with international partners due to tensions with China over disputed claims in the South China Sea.
Among the participating units in KAMANDAG is a Marine Air-Ground Task Force based in Darwin, Australia. Activated in 2012, the contingent and roles of the forward-deployed Marines have expanded in response to the service’s Force Design 2030 overhaul and regional requirements amid China’s military modernization. In the almost decade and a half since the creation of MRF-D, the unit has adapted to new challenges. This year’s rotation, composed of elements from the I Marine Expeditionary Force in California, is the 14th of its kind and has been operating in the first island chain since early spring via drills in the Philippines.
“We’ve chosen a deliberate series of off-continent operations, activities and investments, and we’ve taken what used to be seasonal training. It was a seasonal kind of training series and we forged it into a year-round activity. I’d say it has real impact, and what it does is it truly extends our reach deep into the first island chain,” Col. Jason Armas, the commanding officer of the MRF-D 25.3 MAGTF, told USNI News in a phone interview.
Armas’ men will partake in at least four drills in the Philippines this year alone. In April, the formation trained on the southern island of Mindanao, a former hotbed of communist and radical Islamist insurgency, alongside local Marines, Army troops and regional police forces in Marine Exercise 2025. This was the second year in a row the Australian-based Marines drilled in Mindanao.
Shortly after MAREX, MRF-D immediately shifted to the western island of Palawan to participate in Balikatan 2025. The Marines practiced coastal defense drills with Philippine and Australian forces on a beach facing the disputed South China Sea and an air assault activity in Balabac, one of nine sites throughout the country that can host U.S. troops under the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement. Armas claimed that the rotational deployment stipulated under the agreement allowed MRF-D to “train in unique and challenging places that we’ve never had the opportunity to train before.”
Following KAMANDAG, the Marines will join Archipelagic Coastal Defense Continuum, another coastal defense exercise in the Philippines to be held later this year..
For KAMANDAG 9, the Marines will demonstrate their ability to scale from the command of a MAGTF to an entire Marine Corps at a combined coordination center, Armas said.
“We can command and control the MAGTF at the O-6 level, which is an expeditionary brigade-like capability, and be able to scale up with augmentation from Southern California, from I MEF to execute command and control of a Corps Forward or a MEF forward type formation,” he said.
Armas will be acting as a deputy commander within the combined coordination center staff, which a Philippine Marine Corps general will lead. He also emphasized to USNI News the broader “stress test” of MRF-D’s command and control capabilities not only in the Philippines but across the Indo-Pacific. The unit has commanded Marines operating in New Caledonia, Mindanao and Palawan from its home base in Darwin since its arrival in the region in April.
Aside from opportunities to hone its command and control capabilities, MRF-D has learned how to maneuver and sustain in the Philippines in what Armas described as “21st century foraging.”
“There’s also 21st century foraging, which is part of Force Design 2030. How do we utilize contracting to do things like basic life support and or mobility? And that’s become part of how we not just survive in the first island chain in the Philippines, but we thrive in that area. And we’re absolutely going to continue to do that,” Armas said.
While the unit is organized as a MAGTF, its operations have heavily relied on supporting aviation assets such as Air Force C-130s and attached MV-22B Ospreys from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 364.
“Unlike what you would traditionally see from a Marine Expeditionary Unit that is maritime focused using naval shipping, we’re really heavily reliant on joint internal air fixed wing aircraft,” Armas said.
For additional movements, the Marines have utilized contracted Philippine civilian vessels, including barges and other flat-bottomed shipping. The service did not detail specific assets. Hundreds of ferries and commercial landing craft tanks operate throughout the Philippines daily.
“It’s an incredible opportunity to expand our mobility and how we do multimodal maneuver throughout, really, the Indo-Pacific,” he said.
Armas also highlighted the lessons learned from their Philippine counterparts in the 3rd Marine Brigade and 1st Marine Brigade, specifically in operating in the jungle environments of Mindanao and Palawan.
During KAMANDAG, MRF-D will participate in a key maritime terrain security operations drill and an aerial assault.
Armas emphasized the strategic value that exercises like KAMANDAG bring to the U.S. and its partners in the region, stating that they permit the “ability to train, operate and integrate side by side with our closest allies and partners.”
“That unity that it creates, that unity matters, it ensures that like-minded nations will stand ready to defend a free and open Indo-Pacific,” he said.
U.S. Indo-Pacific Command put MRF-D on a warning order to support Philippine forces during resupply operations to BRP Sierra Madre (LT-57) at Second Thomas Shoal last year, according to a report by Stars and Stripes. Former rotational force commanding officer Col. Brian Mulvihill told Stars and Stripes that MRF-D was ready to support Manila.
