{"id":44945,"date":"2023-04-05T19:48:35","date_gmt":"2023-04-05T19:48:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/04\/05\/big-balikatan-annual-us-philippines-exercise-to-be-bigger-than-ever\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T16:13:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T16:13:00","slug":"big-balikatan-annual-us-philippines-exercise-to-be-bigger-than-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2023\/04\/05\/big-balikatan-annual-us-philippines-exercise-to-be-bigger-than-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Balikatan: Annual US-Philippines exercise to be bigger than ever"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

More than 12,000 U.S. troops from all four branches will join thousands of their Philippine counterparts next week as part of the annual Balikatan exercise in and around the island nation, the largest iteration of the annual event in its 38 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s exercise, which starts April 11, follows an announcement Monday<\/a> that Manila will give U.S. forces access to four additional bases, all of which face the South China Sea, with multiple sites in northern Cagayan province less than 400 miles from Taiwan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new basing agreement has predictably irked China, which has increasingly sought to claim the international waters of the South China Sea as its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All told, 5,400 Philippine troops will join about 12,200 U.S. personnel in the 17-day Balikatan event, with just more than 100 Australian troops joining in as well, U.S. officials said in a release announcing the exercise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s nearly double the 9,000 troops who took part in last year\u2019s exercise.<\/p>\n\n\n\t