TARLAC CITY/MABALACAT CITY – Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said that this year’s “Balikatan” exercise that starts late this month will feature a so-called “full battle test” where all military doctrines and procedures will be tested.

The AFP chief made the disclosure during his speech at the 38th founding anniversary of the Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom), based in Camp Servillano Aquino, Tarlac City.

“In a matter of days, we will be starting our ‘Balikatan’ exercises (with American military forces.) This is the 40th iteration of the ‘Balikatan’ exercises and most of the exercises will be conducted here in the area, the joint operational area of Nolcom,” Brawner said.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Air Force (PAF) and the United States’ Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) began the Cope Thunder Philippines (CT PH 25-1) on April 7.

PAF chief Lt. Gen. Arthur Cordura and PACAF Air National Guard mobilization assistant Maj. Gen. Christopher Sheppard led the opening rites of the drills at Clark Air Base in Mabalacat City, Pampanga.

CT PH 25-1 will be held across key training locations in Northern Luzon, including Basa Air Base and Clark Air Base in Pampanga and Colonel Ernesto Ravina Air Base in Tarlac until April 18, according to PAF spokesperson Col. Ma. Consuelo Castillo.

Castillo said PAF is deploying 729 personnel and various types of aircraft including FA-50PH, A-29B Super Tucano, S-76A and S70i Black Hawk helicopters.

PACAF, on the other hand, sent 250 personnel and 12 F-16 fighter jets.

“The exercise will highlight field training exercises on aircraft maneuvers and tactics,” Castillo said.

For the first time, the PAF is hosting an International Observer Program as part of the exercise, participated in by representatives from the Royal Malaysian Air Force, Royal Thai Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force, Japan Air Self-Defense Force, and Indonesian Air Force.

This year’s “Balikatan” exercise is scheduled for late April up to mid-May. No specific details regarding participating troops, assets and types of drills that will be conducted are still to be released.

“Under your joint area of operations or joint operational area, most of the activities of the ‘Balikatan’ will held there. And then again, our (command and control), will be utilized to ensure that we have a common operational picture while we are conducting our full battle test,” the AFP chief said.

This, Brawner said, involves testing all of the plans, doctrines, procedures that have developed in the past years.

“And this year we are going to test them. It’s very important that we prepare for any eventuality,” he stressed.

However, Brawner did not specify what these plans, doctrines and procedures were for security reasons.

“When I talk about warfare, we are already at war. I am not referring to the kinetic warfare that we see between Ukraine and Russia or between Israel and Hamas. But we are experiencing already cyber warfare, information warfare, cognitive warfare, political warfare,” he added.

 Brawner lauded Nolcom for being a formidable shield against external threats.

“In fact, Nolcom is our frontliner here in the northern hemisphere. And as we saw a while ago in their shift to territorial defense, they have gone a long, long way already,” he added.