{"id":47720,"date":"2024-04-22T22:30:11","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T22:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2024\/04\/22\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T15:50:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T15:50:37","slug":"us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/training-sim\/2024\/04\/22\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"US, Philippine forces launch combat drills in South China Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MANILA, Philippines \u2014 American and Filipino forces launched their largest combat exercises in years Monday in a show of allied firepower near the disputed South China Sea that has alarmed Beijing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/united-states-military-philippines-balikatan-exercises-977fa21f19a4d82c163869bc3c7d0943\" target=\"_blank\">annual exercises<\/a> by the longtime treaty allies will run until May 10 and involve more than 16,000 of their military personnel, along with more than 250 French and Australian forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the Philippine military maintains that the Balikatan \u2014 Tagalog for \u201cshoulder-to-shoulder\u201d \u2014 trainings are not directed at a particular country, some of their main conflict scenarios are set in or near the disputed South China Sea, where Chinese and Philippine coast guard and accompanying ships have figured in a series of <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/philippines-dispute-south-china-sea-patrol-27ee9778f7302938c5090644e3d153c2\" target=\"_blank\">increasingly tense territorial faceoffs since last year.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In encounters in disputed areas, Chinese coast guard vessels have resorting to <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/philippines-south-china-sea-water-cannon-ambassador-c39a279d3267990320041cff211fd6da\" target=\"_blank\">water cannons, blocking and other dangerous maneuvers that have caused injuries<\/a> to Philippine navy personnel and damaged supply boats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Philippine military said a key focus of this year\u2019s drills is territorial defense. \u201cWe\u2019re dead serious about protecting our territory \u2014 that\u2019s why we do these Balikatan exercises,\u201d Col. Michael Logico, who speaks for the Philippine military on the combat drills, told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the disputes between China and the Philippines have escalated, President Joe Biden and his administration have repeatedly warned that the <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/japan-philippines-trilateral-kishida-marcos-biden-03e6288c5b5155af1bb693a464de875d\" target=\"_blank\">United States is obligated to defend the Philippines<\/a>, its oldest treaty ally in Asia, if it is attacked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S. Marine Lt. Gen. William Jurney said in the ceremony that the large-scale military exercises will demonstrate that the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty between the U.S. and the Philippines \u201cis no mere piece of paper.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Washington lays no claim to the contested waters but has declared that freedom of navigation and overflight and the peaceful resolution of the disputes are in its national interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Philippine military chief of staff Gen. Romeo Brawner, who opened the exercises in a ceremony, said that as Pacific coastal nations, the United States and the Philippines \u201cunderstand the importance of maritime cooperation in addressing the complex challenges that threaten peace and security in our region.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/us-philippines-military-alliance-china-1e4946c3479b304e11e47abf48e9fb2b\" target=\"_blank\">China strongly criticized the exercises<\/a>, saying the Philippines was \u201cganging up\u201d with countries from outside Asia in an obvious reference to the United States and its security partners, and warned that the drills could instigate confrontation and undermine regional stability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The combat drills will include a joint sail by the U.S., Philippine and French navies in and near disputed waters off the western Philippine province of Palawan, the sinking of a mock enemy ship by combined U.S. and Philippine firepower, and the retaking of an occupied island off the northwestern Philippines, according to the Philippine military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">China specifically opposed the transport of a U.S. ground-launched missile system to the northern Philippines ahead of the exercises. No missile would be fired but the aim was to build familiarity among military participants with the high-tech weaponry in a tropical setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian expressed China\u2019s grave concern over the deployment of the missile system \u201cat China\u2019s doorstep.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe U.S. move exacerbates tensions in the region and increases the risk of misjudgment and miscalculation,\u201d he said in response to a question in a news briefing in Beijing last week. \u201cThe Philippines needs to think twice about being a cat\u2019s paw for the U.S. at the expense of its security interests and stop sliding down the wrong path.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Biden administration has been strengthening an arc of alliances to better counter China, including in a possible confrontation over Taiwan, an island democracy that Beijing claims as its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That dovetails with efforts by the Philippines under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to defend its territorial interests by boosting joint military exercises with the U.S. He has also allowed rotating batches of American forces to stay in additional Philippine military camps under a 2014 defense pact, including in his country\u2019s north, which lies just a sea border away from Taiwan and southern China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Associated Press journalist Iya Forbes in Manila contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>American and Filipino forces launched their largest combat exercises in years Monday in a show of allied firepower that has alarmed Beijing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":108289,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":26,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[45,160,29,11,92,36,26,164],"tags":[],"coauthors":[697],"class_list":["post-47720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific","category-daily-news-roundup","category-digital-show-dailies","category-global","category-modern-day-marine","category-newsletters","category-training-sim","category-training-simulation-report"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"GRCP3KWELJE7THY5TBHRJN4PJI","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-military\/2024\/04\/22\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>US, Philippine forces launch combat drills in South China Sea - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"American and Filipino forces launched their largest combat exercises in years Monday in a show of allied firepower that has alarmed Beijing.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US, Philippine forces launch combat drills in South China Sea\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"American and Filipino forces launched their largest combat exercises in years Monday in a show of allied firepower that has alarmed Beijing.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/training-sim\/2024\/04\/22\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-22T22:30:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T15:50:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jim Gomez, The Associated Press\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jim Gomez, The Associated Press\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/training-sim\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/22\\\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/training-sim\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/22\\\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"headline\": \"US, Philippine forces launch combat drills in South China Sea\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2024-04-22T22:30:11+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T15:50:37+00:00\",\n\t            \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/training-sim\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/22\\\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"wordCount\": 684,\n\t            \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/training-sim\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/22\\\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/7763270.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"articleSection\": [\n\t                \"Asia Pacific\",\n\t                \"Daily News Roundup\",\n\t                \"Digital Show Dailies\",\n\t                \"Global\",\n\t                \"Modern Day Marine\",\n\t                \"Newsletters\",\n\t                \"Training &amp; Sim\",\n\t                \"Training &amp; Simulation Report\"\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"CommentAction\",\n\t                    \"name\": \"Comment\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/training-sim\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/22\\\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\\\/#respond\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/training-sim\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/22\\\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\\\/\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/training-sim\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/22\\\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"US, Philippine forces launch combat drills in South China Sea - Defense News\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"primaryImageOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/training-sim\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/22\\\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/training-sim\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/22\\\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/7763270.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2024-04-22T22:30:11+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T15:50:37+00:00\",\n\t            \"description\": \"American and Filipino forces launched their largest combat exercises in years Monday in a show of allied firepower that has alarmed Beijing.\",\n\t            \"breadcrumb\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/training-sim\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/22\\\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\\\/#breadcrumb\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ReadAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/training-sim\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/22\\\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\\\/\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/training-sim\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/22\\\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\\\/#primaryimage\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/7763270.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/7763270.jpg.jpg\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"BreadcrumbList\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/training-sim\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/22\\\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\\\/#breadcrumb\",\n\t            \"itemListElement\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 1,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Home\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t                    \"ad_zone\": \"home\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 2,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Training &amp; Sim\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/training-sim\\\/\",\n\t                    \"ad_zone\": \"training-sim\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 3,\n\t                    \"name\": \"US, Philippine forces launch combat drills in South China Sea\"\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebSite\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Defense News\",\n\t            \"description\": \"Covering the politics, business and technology of defense | Defense News\",\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"SearchAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"EntryPoint\",\n\t                        \"urlTemplate\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"\n\t                    },\n\t                    \"query-input\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"PropertyValueSpecification\",\n\t                        \"valueRequired\": true,\n\t                        \"valueName\": \"search_term_string\"\n\t                    }\n\t                }\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Defense News\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t            \"logo\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/defensenews-logo-white.png\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/defensenews-logo-white.png\",\n\t                \"caption\": \"Defense News\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"\n\t            }\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\",\n\t            \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t                \"caption\": \"migration\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/author\\\/migration\\\/\"\n\t        }\n\t    ]\n\t}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"US, Philippine forces launch combat drills in South China Sea - Defense News","description":"American and Filipino forces launched their largest combat exercises in years Monday in a show of allied firepower that has alarmed Beijing.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"US, Philippine forces launch combat drills in South China Sea","og_description":"American and Filipino forces launched their largest combat exercises in years Monday in a show of allied firepower that has alarmed Beijing.","og_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/training-sim\/2024\/04\/22\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\/","og_site_name":"Defense News","article_published_time":"2024-04-22T22:30:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-08-08T15:50:37+00:00","author":"Jim Gomez, The Associated Press","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jim Gomez, The Associated Press","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/training-sim\/2024\/04\/22\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/training-sim\/2024\/04\/22\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\/"},"author":{"name":"migration","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1"},"headline":"US, Philippine forces launch combat drills in South China Sea","datePublished":"2024-04-22T22:30:11+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-08T15:50:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/training-sim\/2024\/04\/22\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\/"},"wordCount":684,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/training-sim\/2024\/04\/22\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/7763270.jpg.jpg","articleSection":["Asia Pacific","Daily News Roundup","Digital Show Dailies","Global","Modern Day Marine","Newsletters","Training &amp; Sim","Training &amp; Simulation Report"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/training-sim\/2024\/04\/22\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/training-sim\/2024\/04\/22\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/training-sim\/2024\/04\/22\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\/","name":"US, Philippine forces launch combat drills in South China Sea - Defense News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/training-sim\/2024\/04\/22\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/training-sim\/2024\/04\/22\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/7763270.jpg.jpg","datePublished":"2024-04-22T22:30:11+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-08T15:50:37+00:00","description":"American and Filipino forces launched their largest combat exercises in years Monday in a show of allied firepower that has alarmed Beijing.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/training-sim\/2024\/04\/22\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/training-sim\/2024\/04\/22\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/training-sim\/2024\/04\/22\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/7763270.jpg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/7763270.jpg.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/training-sim\/2024\/04\/22\/us-philippine-forces-launch-combat-drills-in-south-china-sea\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","ad_zone":"home"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Training &amp; Sim","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/training-sim\/","ad_zone":"training-sim"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"US, Philippine forces launch combat drills in South China Sea"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","name":"Defense News","description":"Covering the politics, business and technology of defense | Defense News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization","name":"Defense News","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/defensenews-logo-white.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/defensenews-logo-white.png","caption":"Defense News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1","name":"migration","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"migration"},"url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/author\/migration\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Defense News","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews","push-errors":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/7763270.jpg.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47720"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47721,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47720\/revisions\/47721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47720"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=47720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}