Subic Bay Freeport – U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III wrapped up his trip to the region with a visit to the freeport Wednesday, 1 August.

Austin toured a Philippine Navy facility and several defense industrial sites to highlight historic opportunities for defense industrial cooperation between the United States, the Philippines, and other regional allies and partners.

This marks Austin's eleventh trip to the Indo-Pacific region as the U.S. Department of Defense seeks to strengthen relationships with the Philippines and other allies.

“This is a really transformative time for our relationship, our alliance here,” he said.

Austin highlighted his nation's commitment to several key initiatives, including $500 million in financing to support military modernization.

“We're excited about that, and that's going to help them modernize their military a bit further. [And] today we saw some of our industrial base companies out here working together to create additional capability, and that's also very, very exciting,” he added.

During the U.S.-Philippines 2+2 ministerial dialogue on Tuesday, Austin and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met with their Philippine counterparts in Manila to discuss ways to enhance regional peace, stability, and prosperity.

As part of these discussions, the U.S. committed $500 million in foreign military financing to bolster the modernization of the alliance and improve the capabilities of the Philippine military and coast guard.