QUEZON CITY - The Philippines-Australia (PHL-Aus) Exercise ALON 2023 closing ceremony was held at Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo in Quezon City on August 29, 2023.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)-Australian Defence Force (ADF) bilateral amphibious training activity known as “ALON” or “waves” was conducted for the first time and forms part of Australia’s Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2023 (IPE23).
IPE23 is Australia’s flagship international engagement activity in the Southeast Asian and Indian Ocean regions promoting security, stability, and stronger partnerships through bilateral and multilateral engagement training, capacity building, and humanitarian efforts.
Exercise ALON, the largest bilateral exercise conducted between the AFP and ADF, includes an air assault exercise in Palawan, combined amphibious assault exercise in Zambales, and live fire training as the final phase in Capas Tarlac on August 31, 2023. Participants were composed of 1,000 personnel from the AFP and 1,200 from the ADF, with support from 150 United States Marine Corps (USMC).
The Palawan air assault exercise in Rizal on August 21, was designed to simulate realistic combat scenarios, enhancing the forces’ preparedness and operational readiness across air, sea, and land actions. With over 600 soldiers from the AFP, ADF, and USMC, and close air support by Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) F-35A Lightening II and E-7A Wedgetail.
The combined amphibious assault exercise in Zambales on August 25 was carried-out by launching a combined amphibious landing force from Navy ships to secure the beach landing sites, followed by parachute insertion to seize the objectives and a simultaneous landing via landing craft and USMC MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft.
Participants included 560 from the AFP, and 1,200 from the ADF, with support from the 120 USMC. Assets supporting were HMA ships Canberra and Anzac, with the Tarlac-class BRP Davao Del Sur (LD 602), close air support from RAAF F-35A Lightning II aircraft, Australian Army M1A1 Abrams tank and two Philippine Marine Corps Amphibious Assault Vehicles.
Exercise ALON enhanced the forces’ capability in conducting combined operations and improved their tactics, techniques, and procedures on amphibious operations.
The land live fire training on August 31, will mark the final phase of Exercise ALON.///
