APARRI, Cagayan — Combined Philippine and United States (US) Troops simulated a countering seaborne invasion in Northern Eastern Luzon on Saturday as part of this year's Exercise Balikatan.

Joint marine and army units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the United States Armed Forces (USAF) conducted a counter-landing live-fire exercise in Aparri, Cagayan, showcasing the country's coastal defense capabilities reinforced through allied support.

"We are countering a seaborne invasion from an external threat. We engaged them using several waves of weapon systems," BGen. Michael Logico, assistant director for Balikatan exercises, told reporters in a media interview.

Logico explained that the counter-landing operation was designed to intercept the possible enemy at a distance and continue engaging them as they advanced toward the shore.

"The enemy that we are fighting against here is an amphibious force coming from surface ships, deploying an amphibious force whose intent is to establish a foothold on the beaches with the intent to move inland, once that mission has been accomplished. So a counter-landing is intended to stop them at the deep area and then continue to engage them as they are moving closer," Logico said.

The demonstration of the counter-landing is seen to improve interoperability, joint operations, and firepower coordination.

"We are preparing the ground forces for all phases of operations, beginning with the littoral battle and then after this we intend to engage them in a defense in depth, trying to avoid the centers of population and then further engage the enemy in a pitched battle," Logico said.

He added that the objective of each phase of the operation is to regain the initiative and either drive the enemy back to sea or defeat them on land.

Coastal defense drills

The scenario involves denying a large enemy amphibious task group the opportunity to secure a foothold in the Northern Luzon area.

There were 30 mock enemy targets located as far as 8 kilometers from the beach front.

The US Marine Corps (USMC) supported the Philippine Marine Corps by employing a close air strike using its fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, including four Boeing AH-64 Apache aircraft and F-18 fighter jets.

Followed by a joint and combined artillery operation by the Philippine Army and US Army, using their respective 155mm ATMOS and 105mm Howitzer artillery guns.

The F-16 Fighting Falcon jets also employed close air support in the operations.

The participating units also employed Javelin missiles, while Joint and Combined Armor Forces delivered direct fire support, complemented by the Philippine Air Force's Smart Shooter system.

The last phase of the sea drills was a joint and combined infantry live fire operation.

"We train for that eventuality that they have established their presence already at the beach. That's the closest. The furthest that we've engaged them is the distance of where the F-16s engage the targets, which is beyond the line of sight.

The counter-landing live fire exercise is being conducted to ensure seamless coordination and regional security deterrence operations and defense collaboration within the Indo-Pacific region.

Logico said these sea drills "also tied into a greater scenario."

"So as we are doing the live execution of the counter-landing exercise back there in Manila, they are also exercising command and control because this is tied in to a command and control exercise in Camp Aguinaldo," he said.

"So they are also utilizing the events here that feed into a greater scenario at the operational and strategic level," he added.

Exercise interloper

Meanwhile, Logico confirmed the presence of an aerial interloper during the counter-landing live-fire exercise, highlighting the challenge of dealing with unforeseen events in such scenarios.

"There is some element of dynamism that happened here. Unbeknownst to you, we also had to deal with interlopers into the exercise area, which becomes a safety issue," he said.

"So when we encounter that situation, which is often, we put a pause in the exercise until such time that the interlopers have left the training area," he added.

Logico noted that pausing the exercise itself requires significant command and control, as well as extensive coordination between the Philippines and the US.

"An aircraft entered our airspace, and it was detected. And that meant that the procedure there is to put a pause in the exercise until the interloper has left," he said.

Logicostressed that detecting an interloper during exercise is "normal."

"It has happened before, even in the first littoral live fire that we did in Zambales. And it happened again when we repeated it in Laoag, Ilocos Norte," he added.

When asked about the identity of the aircraft, Logico declined to provide further details about the aerial interloper, emphasizing only that the matter was appropriately addressed.

"I have no intention of getting any further into who the aircraft is. For me, that is not the important question because it is a contingency that we have rehearsed and we have practiced," he said.

"We treat this as normal. An exercise would not be complete without these things happening, and I would just leave it at that," he added.

Why Aparri?

Logico said Aparri, Cagayan, is one of the 'non-traditional' areas used for AFP exercises.

He likewise noted that previous Balikatan exercises were typically held at Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija and at Colonel Ernesto Ravina Air Base (CERAB) in Crow Valley, Tarlac.

"In previous Balikatan exercises, we've been doing it in Fort Magsaysay or in CERAB, in Crow Valley, but these are traditional training areas. We've determined that these areas have already saturated what we have learned from these traditional training locations," he said.

"So now, for us to take it a step further, we have to look for areas that we are unaccustomed to, and this is one of the areas. We have to make us get used to training in these locations, the littorals," he added.

Logico said that while training can still occur at CERAB, it comes with certain limitations.

"If we keep on training in CERAB, we can still do that, but we do not get the involvement of other component services. We do not get the involvement of the Philippine Navy," he pointed out.

"We do not get the involvement of the Philippine Marines. But doing it here in the littorals is precisely the perfect area where we could practice joint and combined operations," he added.