Sgt. Trey Leonard, a rifleman with Marine Rotational Force-Darwin, carries out live-fire Balikatan training at Oyster Bay in Palawan, Philippines, May 5, 2026. (Caleb Goodwin/U.S. Marine Corps)
A rotational force of U.S. Marines is on the Philippines’ southern island of Mindanao after wrapping up counter-landing drills on Palawan near the South China Sea.
Two thousand members of Marine Rotational Force-Darwin began an annual six-month mission to Australia’s Northern Territory in mid-March.
The force participated in the annual Balikatan, or “shoulder-to-shoulder,” exercise in the Philippines involving 17,000 troops from seven nations from April 20 to May 8.
“It was a great rep for the entire team,” Col. George Flynn, the rotational force’s commander, told Stars and Stripes by phone Friday from Darwin.
The unit’s next task is Marine Exercise Philippines on Mindanao, he said. The drill began Monday and runs through May 29.
Three hundred members of the rotational force are building relationships with their Filipino counterparts during the Marine exercise, force spokesman 1st Lt. Chase Fortier said by email Tuesday.
“They will be conducting jungle patrolling training, live-fire training, and a final exercise consisting of an amphibious assault inland and artillery live fire off the coast of Mindanao,” he said.
There will also be expert exchanges on communications, medical, fires, martial arts, expeditionary logistics, and jungle survival, Fortier added.
Deploying from Darwin to the Philippines avoids the political frictions from permanently basing Marines in the islands, said Grant Newsham, a retired Marine colonel and senior researcher with the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies in Tokyo.
“As a practical matter, if the deployment schedule is done right you can effectively have a near-permanent presence [in the Philippines] with all the operational and psychological advantages that come of that,” he said by email Tuesday.
A base in Darwin allows a wide range of training for Marines and other U.S. forces that would be less accessible from the Philippines, Newsham said.
Gunnery Sgt. Patrick Killeen, an explosive ordnance disposal technician with Marine Rotational Force-Darwin, posts security during a Balikatan drill at Oyster Bay in Palawan, Philippines, May 1, 2026. (Caleb Goodwin/U.S. Marine Corps)
Meanwhile, Marines in Darwin will join the Australian air force-led Diamond Storm exercise in the Northern Territory from Sunday to June 26, Fortier said.
The force — built around the Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division — will join two more exercises Down Under — Southern Jackaroo, from May 29 to July 3, and Predator’s Run, from July 20 to 29, along with Kamandag in the Philippines from June 15 to July 1, he said.
U.S. Marines have deployed to Australia each year on six-month rotations since 2012 but spent significant time in the Philippines last year.
This year’s mission in the archipelago includes MV-22 Osprey aircraft assigned to the rotational force, Flynn said.
Last year, the Marines relied on Ospreys that were not part of the rotation for transport around the islands, he said.
“It’s aircraft that I’m responsible for,” Flynn said of the Ospreys that moved Marines during Balikatan. “I had more ability to extend operational reach.”
Three hundred members of the Hawaii-based Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 268 make up the force’s air combat element.
Some of the Ospreys flew to the Philippines from Darwin and others flew direct from Hawaii, Flynn said.
The island training demonstrates the Marines “ability to push forward out of Darwin,” he said.
