Philippine Army troopers, still fresh from their rigorous 17-day military exercise with their American counterparts, are back in another intensive training, this time with Australian soldiers.
The Philippine Army and the Australian Defence Force officially kicked off this year’s Philippine-Australia Army-to-Army exercise dubbed “KASANGGA” 23-2 at Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal on Monday.
A total of 114 combatants from the Philippine Army’s Second Infantry Division will train side by-side with 43 Australian Armymen during the bilateral exercises which will until June 23.
The joint exercise covers urban operations combat tracking; jungle warfare and survival training; long-range marksmanship; tactical combat casualty care; sensitive site exploitation, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations; and small unit leader’s training through an exchange of tactics, techniques, and procedures.
Col. Paul Joseph Barta, Australian defense attaché to the Philippines, said their troops will learn jungle warfare and survival skills from their Filipino counterparts who were also known as the “Jungle Fighters”.
For his part, 2nd ID commander Brig. Gen. Augusto Villareal said his men would focus on urban operations knowledge and skills from the Australians.
Exercise Kasangga 23-2 is an annual bilateral training exercise anchored on the Philippines-Australia Defense Engagement Plan for July 2022 to July 2023 which aims to bolster Army-to-Army ties and interoperability between the two ground forces.