THIS YEAR'S Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Joint Exercise (AJEX) “DAGITPA” (Dagat-Langit-Lupa) will focus on beefing up external defense capabilities, military chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said on Monday.
"This year's exercise will adopt an operationally focused framework enabling us to simulate our territorial defense plan Bantay Kalayaan alongside a Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept (CADC)," he said during the event's opening rites at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.
The CADC is a defensive shift, earlier announced by Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., that aims to secure the country's entire territory, along with its exclusive economic zone.
Brawner also said the eighth iteration of "AJEX DAGITPA", which runs until Nov. 15, shows the AFP is ready to "confront real-world challenges on" and that it is able to safeguard the nation's interests with "determination and courage."
Over 3,000 soldiers are expected to take part in the exercise.
Highlighting the importance of information in modern warfare, Brawner said the AFP is introducing the "information warfighter exercise" in this year's joint drills.
"This highlights the critical need for strategic communications and information operations in modern defense operations. As the nature of warfare evolves, we must equip ourselves not only with the physical readiness but also with robust capabilities in the digital and informational domains. In the previous AJEX, sinama na natin ‘yung (we included) cyber exercise so we will continue on with that," Brawner said.
Through united efforts, the AFP chief said that the military can address the multifaceted challenges ahead.
"And it is essential that we forge stronger partnerships within our forces and with our national and international allies. So even if we say that this is a unilateral exercise, we will still be involving our allies and our partners and also the other government agencies in the Philippines," he added.
Exercises in Wescom, Nolcom, WPS
As this developed, "AJEX DAGITPA" exercise director Maj. Gen. Marvin Licudine said exercises for this year's iteration will be held in the areas of the Puerto Princesa, Palawan-headquartered Western Command (Wescom) and Tarlac City-based Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom).
Licudine said they anticipate China to monitor the activities.
"We have done the contingencies in the planning and of course we expect that, our Chinese counterparts will be monitoring us and doing some things maybe but our planners have planned and prepared for contingencies in the process," he added.
"AJEX DAGITPA" executive director Col. Michael Logico said that various exercises would also be held in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
"In the area of (the) WPS, we'll be conducting a series of exercises, all of which will be taking part in the western portion of Palawan. We will be having island seizure exercises, amphibious counter landing exercises and air defense exercises kasama dyan ‘yung (this includes) joint intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance and maritime security exercises," he added.
He also said there would be live-fire exercises, which involve "a combination of maritime-based assets and air-based assets." (Priam Nepomuceno)
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