The Philippines holds joint drills with US, Japan

Army Colonel Xerxes Trinidad said joint air exercises in the Bashi Channel demonstrated the three allies’ “ability to operate seamlessly together in complex maritime environments."

Photo from AFP

Manuel Mogato | February 28, 2026

Manila — A Philippine light fighter and a close air support aircraft flew alongside an American and a Japanese anti-submarine aircraft near Taiwan in joint drills last month, a military spokesman said.

Army Colonel Xerxes Trinidad said joint air exercises in the Bashi Channel demonstrated the three allies’ “ability to operate seamlessly together in complex maritime environments.”

“Air operations were conducted within airspace over Philippine territory and its territorial sea, north of Luzon,” Trinidad said, adding it was the “first time” an air drill was conducted in the “said operational box”.

Trinidad said the trilateral air patrol exercises were the second Multilateral Maritime Cooperative Activities (MMCAs) this year and the first time outside the West Philippine Sea.

Japan sent a P3C-Orion while the US sent a P-8 Poseidon. The Philippines sent an FA-50 light fighter and an A29 Super Tucano close-air support aircraft.

China’s military protested the air drills, although it sent a vessel to monitor the activity.

“The Philippines co-opted countries outside the region to organise the so-called joint patrols, disrupting peace and stability in the region,” said Zhai Shichen, spokesperson for the PLA’s Southern Theatre Command

The Philippine-US-Japanese exercises took six days. It included a live-fire gunnery exercise conducted by the guided missile frigate BRP Antonio Luna and the US Navy’s guided-missile destroyer, USS George Dewey.

Meanwhile, in another US-PH bilateral activity, a C-146 Wolfhound landed on a highway in Pangasinan province to test the two militaries’ readiness to respond to disasters and combat operations.