Philippine Navy all set for RP-U.S. Training Exercises

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The Philippine Navy said Wednesday that everything is set for the nine-day training between Filipino and American troops in Luzon island starting next week.

Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo, director of the Naval Public Affairs Office, said that more than 3,000 sailors, marines, and aviators from the logistics support units of the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marines have arrived for the Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) and Amphibious Landing Exercise (PHIBLEX) to be held October 13-22.

He said that six US Navy vessels and three aircraft will participate in this annual event that involves five Philippine Navy (PN) ships and around 1,000-strong PN contingent of sailors and marines.

"The exercises hope to attain inter-operability between the two armed services of both countries," Arevalo said.

"Particularly, it seeks to bolster the inter-operability of the participating country's armed services in territorial defense in pursuit of our national defense strategy," he added.

The CARAT will be held at the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority in the province of Zambales. It will be comprised of "in-port" and "at-sea" training activities. Included in the "in-port" events are: Subject Matter Expert Exchanges, community service activities like medical/dental/engineering civic action and other humanitarian activities.

Meanwhile, "at sea" events comprised Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure Procedure, Maritime Interdiction Operations, Maritime Surveillance, and Naval Gunfire Support, among others.

PHIBLEX will involve American and Filipino marines and amphibious vehicles. A boat raid exercise will be held in Marine Base Ternate in Cavite and a mechanized raid will be had in the coast of Naval Education and Training Command in Zambales. It will commence on Oct. 14 at Clark, Pampanga and close on October 22 at the Philippine Marine Corps Headquarters at Marine Barracks Rudiardo Brown at the Naval Station Jose Francisco in Taguig City.