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PUERTO PRINCESA, Philippines — U.S. Marines from 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, Marine Rotational Force – Darwin (MRF-D) 25.3 Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF), Australian Army Soldiers with the 5th/7th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (5/7 RAR), Australian Defence Force (ADF), and Philippine Marines from the 3rd Marine Brigade, Philippine Marine Corps (PMC), executed a high-tempo, trilateral simulated airfield insertion during a maritime key terrain security operation (MKTSO) for Exercise Balikatan 25, May 4, 2025.
The combined joint all-domain operation (CJADO) unfolded in southern Palawan. Four U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey aircraft from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 364, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, launched an Australian, U.S. and Philippine infantry raid force into Balabac Island, which served as a challenging piece of maritime terrain with a simulated adversary. This mission commander was Australian Army LTCOL Hugh Grogan, the commanding officer of 5/7 RAR, ADF, marking a significant demonstration of allied and partner integrated maneuver, rapid force projection, and interoperability.
“This was a fantastic opportunity for us to not only operate side-by-side with our U.S. and Philippine counterparts, but also to command a truly joint and multinational force,” said Grogan. “We’re building habits of cooperation and cohesion now that strengthen our capabilities and relationships for the future.”
The air raid force inserted and rapidly secured Balabac Island and conducted clearing actions to simulate establishing a lodgment for follow-on joint and combined forces. Simultaneously, PMC and Philippine naval forces conducted an amphibious landing 14 kilometers to the east on the Balabac beaches to secure the island in both air and sea domains. The seamless integration of Philippine, Australian and U.S. warfighters represented a milestone in combined planning, communication and execution of dynamic and challenging training.
This training was part of a broader and synchronized set of actions within Exercise Balikatan 25, with similar events taking place in Luzon with thousands of exercise participants and many allied and partner nations participating. Balikatan is a longstanding annual exercise between the U.S. and Philippine armed forces designed to strengthen the alliance, showcase the capable combined force, and demonstrate the commitment to regional security and stability.
Philippine Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Antonion Mangoroban, commander of the 3rd Marine Brigade, emphasized the strategic and symbolic significance of the operation, stating, “our Marines were honored to conduct this operation with our closest partners. Securing key terrain in Palawan is not just a training objective, it’s tied directly to our Archipelagic Coastal Defense Concept,” said Mangoroban. “This shows our mutual commitment to peace and shared security responsibilities in the region.”
The airfield insert and amphibious landing represented the culmination of weeks of trilateral rehearsals, planning sessions and communication synchronization. The MKTSO enabled persistent allied and partner maritime domain awareness through coordinated use of unmanned aerial systems, distributed surveillance, communication systems and Philippine naval vessels during the amphibious landing.
For MRF-D, the airfield insert underscored the MAGTF’s evolving role as a forward-postured command and control node with theater-wide reach and crisis response capabilities. While forces on the ground executed the insert, the MAGTF command element maintained real-time operational awareness of ongoing training in New Caledonia for exercise Croix du Sud, a multinational humanitarian assistance and crisis response exercise hosted by France. Simultaneously, the MRF-D MAGTF’s ground and air combat elements prepared for upcoming exercises Southern Jackaroo and Predators Run in Australia, further stressing the MAGTF’s ability to exercise dispersed, multimodal command and control of concurrent operations across the Indo-Pacific.
“This kind of real-time synchronization across multiple countries and exercises is exactly why Balikatan is so important,” said U.S. Marine Corps Col. Jason Armas, commanding officer of the MRF-D 25.3 MAGTF. “MRF-D is uniquely positioned to tie together these threads, to link warfighters and planners, to build trust with allies, and to turn interoperability into combined defense capability.”
This event marked the first time in Balikatan history an Australian mission commander conducted an air insert operation with U.S. air assets carrying Philippine, U.S. and Australian service members. That milestone represents a deliberate shift toward more distributed, trust-based leadership models among allies and partners in the region.
Exercises like Balikatan, especially events nested within them, serve to reinforce shared goals and shared commitment to regional security and stability. The MKTSO airfield insertion, led by an Australian commander, supported by Philippine and U.S. aviation, and executed with Philippine Marines, Australian Soldiers and U.S. Marines at the tactical edge, was more than just training, it was a unified success.
| Date Taken: | 05.03.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 05.05.2025 06:26 |
| Story ID: | 496916 |
| Location: | PUERTO PRINCESA, PH |
| Web Views: | 24 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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