Military drills on the edge: U.S. and allies test capabilities near Asia's flash points

Soldiers of the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division build fighting positions along the beach of the La Paz sand dunes in Laoag City, Philippines, ahead of counterlanding exercises during annual Balikatan drills. Anthony Kuhn/NPR

Anthony Kuhn/NPR

LAOAG CITY, Philippines — Silver drone boats scanned the azure waters for targets, rocket artillery rounds blasted out from behind sand dunes, mortars and machine guns raked the surf, and generator-powered air conditioners and tents cooled stacks of data servers on the beach, as U.S. and allied forces practiced repelling an amphibious assault.

It's part of a U.S.-led drill on Luzon, the Philippines' largest island, dubbed Balikatan, or "shoulder to shoulder" in Tagalog. It put to test the U.S. military's new weapons, emerging strategies and shifting alliances, amid geopolitical tensions and rapidly evolving technologies.

"It's really about 'see, sense, strike and protect,'" Gen. Ronald Clark, commander of the U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC), told NPR in an interview.

"We want to see the enemy first," he added, to repel any attack on the Philippines.

More than 17,000 troops from the U.S., the Philippines, Japan, France, Canada, Australia and New Zealand participated in the 41st edition of the military exercises, which concluded on Friday after nearly three weeks.

The drills bordered on two of Asia's key flash points — Taiwan and the South China Sea — often the front line of tensions among the U.S., China and its neighbors.

"U.S., Japan, Philippines trilateral cooperation is integral to any sort of collective deterrence throughout the first island chain," which includes Japan and the Philippines, says Lisa Curtis, a senior fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for a New American Security.

The commander of the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division, Maj. Gen. James B. Bartholomees III, scans the terrain of central Luzon island from a Black Hawk helicopter. Anthony Kuhn/NPR

Anthony Kuhn/NPR

The U.S. National Defense Strategy says that deterrence is necessary to "prevent anyone, including China, from being able to dominate us or our allies."

China condemned the drills as destabilizing for the region and, in response, sent its own naval task force to conduct live-fire drills east of Luzon, the Philippines' main island.

Shifting alliances and partners

U.S. and Filipino troops pose for a picture during annual Balikatan exercises. Anthony Kuhn/NPR

Anthony Kuhn/NPR

The Balikatan drills are being reshaped by internal factors among allies of the United States.

"The Philippine Army is now transitioning from its usual focus on internal security," Lt. Gen. Aristotle Gonzalez, head of the Philippine Armed Forces' Northern Luzon Command, told reporters at the exercises.

As Philippine authorities have recently weakened insurgent and terrorist groups, the Philippines is turning to protecting its borders, so "it's good to have the U.S. Army coming in, so that we can also learn and, as we acquire new capabilities, to employ these capabilities effectively," Gonzales said.

In Japan, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is trying to get rid of postwar restrictions on its military, including updating its defense strategy and reviving its defense industry.

This year marks the first time that Japan sent combat troops to the Balikatan drills, replacing observers who went last year. They fired an anti-ship missile for the first time in the Philippines, at a decommissioned Philippine corvette during the drills.

The last time Japanese combat troops set foot on Philippine soil was in 1941, when imperial army soldiers landed about 50 miles south in Vigan City, three days after attacking Pearl Harbor.

Japan's postwar constitution bans it from waging war. But Col. Sho Tomino, who commands a Japanese amphibious regiment, told reporters that his unit can participate because a Japan-Philippines agreement took effect last year allowing joint military training in each other's countries.

"Despite the language barrier, through this series of exercises, by working side by side and shoulder to shoulder, I firmly believe that we can conduct operations together," he said.

U.S. Army's growing role

In between the Philippine and Japanese troops were soldiers of the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division.

The Pacific has long been considered a domain dominated by sea power and air power. But China's military buildup, especially its land-based missiles, has kept U.S. naval and air power at bay.

The U.S. Army and Marine Corps have mirrored that approach by deploying anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles along the first island chain to control choke points between the islands.

The Army's role, however, has continued to grow despite a debate about the limits of land power in the Pacific.

"What we're learning from watching the fighting in the Ukraine and in other places in the world is that the benefit of land forces to control seas cannot be denied," argues the commander of the 25th Infantry Division , Maj. Gen. James B. Bartholomees III.

Some experts warn that deploying more U.S. missiles around China could lead to military escalation.

But "it's not about escalation. It's really about deterrence," argues Clark, of the U.S. Army Pacific. "I mean, what you're looking at on this beachhead is a defense in depth. It's not an offensive operation."

Weapons with offensive capabilities

A high-mobility artillery rocket system (HIMARS) launcher sits on the beach of the La Paz sand dunes in Laoag City ahead of counterlanding exercises during annual Balikatan drills. Anthony Kuhn/NPR

Anthony Kuhn/NPR

Besides fielding anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles, the U.S. has also deployed Typhon missile systems, capable of hitting targets on China's mainland from the Philippines.

China warned last year that it "will not sit idly by" with the Typhon's threat, and it has accused the Philippines of reneging on a promise to withdraw the missiles after the 2024 Balikatan drills, a promise Manila denies making.

Local media reported that U.S. troops used the Typhon system for the first time in the Philippines, to fire a Tomahawk cruise missile during the Balikatan drills. The missile was fired from a civilian airport, carrying a dummy warhead, and landed on a military reservation.

"Yes, Typhon may enhance deterrence, but it also raises the Philippines' exposure to great-power conflict," said Anna Malindog-Uy, secretary-general of the Association for Philippines-China Understanding, a civic group.

"This creates risks of entanglement, escalation and loss of strategic autonomy," she added. Therefore, she said, the Philippine government should explain to its citizens how it plans to use the weapons and how it will protect citizens in case they become targets.