Leaders from the U.S. Army and the Philippine military take part in the opening ceremony for the Salaknib exercise at Fort Magsaysay, Philippines, April 6, 2026. (Lilly Ekberg/U.S. Army)
The United States and the Philippines have launched annual land force drills that involve 7,000 soldiers, including troops from Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
The first phase of Salaknib, which translates to “shield” in the Ilocano language, began Monday, the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii announced in a news release that day.
“Over the next several weeks, thousands of U.S. and Philippine soldiers will train shoulder-to-shoulder in a series of complex, multi-domain training events,” the division said.
The exercise is designed to enhance combat readiness and the ability of the U.S. and Philippine armies to work together in areas such as jungle warfare, aviation, live-fire training and island defense, according to the release.
“Salaknib builds credible combat land forces alongside our oldest treaty ally in the region,” Maj. Gen. James Bartholomees, the division’s commander, said as the drills launched at Fort Magsaysay on the main Philippine island of Luzon, according to the release.
“This realistic training sharpens our collective skills and ensures we are prepared to uphold our shared commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” he said.
Maj. Gen. Efren Morados, vice commander of the Philippine army, also at Fort Magsaysay to kick off the drills, said the training is about people.
“It is about the bonds formed between soldiers who train together under demanding conditions,” he said in the release.
About 420 members of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force will practice command-and-control coordination and take part in live-fire drills during Salaknib, Japanese national broadcaster NHK reported Monday.
Japan and New Zealand, which is sending 46 troops, are joining the exercise for the first time. Australia has sent 100 personnel to the training, the state-run Philippine News Agency reported April 3.
The first phase of Salaknib will run until April 17 with a second phase planned during May and June, the agency reported Monday.
Last month, Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Romeo Brawner said Japan would send combat troops to the Philippines for the upcoming annual Balikatan — or “shoulder-to-shoulder” — exercise.
“After 1945, for the very first time, we will have again Japanese combat troops on Philippine soil,” Brawner said, according to a March 24 report by the Philippine News Agency.
Last year, about 9,000 American and 5,000 Filipino troops were involved in Balikatan, which ran for 18 days during April and May. Another 260 Australian service members joined, along with smaller contingents from Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Canada and other countries.
