DARWIN, Australia - The Philippines-Australia (PH-Aus) Exercise Alon 2023 officially kicked off on morning of August 14, 2023 in an opening ceremony held at the Flight Deck of HMAS Canberra with the Commander, Indo-Pacific Endeavor 2023, AIRCDRE Tony McCormack.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)-Australian Defence Force (ADF) bilateral Cooperative Amphibious Serial conceived as “ALON” or “waves” is part of the Indo-Pacific Endeavour (IPE) activity for the year 2023. The term “waves” signifies the characteristics of amphibious warfare and emphasizes the projection of ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore. The IPE23 is Australia’s flagship international engagement activity in the Southeast Asian and Indian Ocean region. IPE aims to promote security, stability, stronger partnership through bilateral and multilateral engagement training, capacity building and humanitarian efforts. Exercise Alon 2023 is the first bilateral amphibious exercise between Australia and the Philippines.
The opening ceremony started with the acknowledgment of participating countries including the 111 Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) contingents. This was followed by the introduction of official party including CAPT Phillipa Hay, CSC and Bar, RAN, Commander Amphibious Task Force; COL Doug Pashley, CSC, Commander, Landing Forces; CAPT Brendan O’Hara, RAN, Commanding Officer, HMAS Canberra; CMDR Barton Harrington, RAN, Commanding Officer, HMAS Anzac; COL Brendan Sullivan, Commanding Officer, MRF-D 23 and US Marine Corps (USMC) representative; and LTCOL NOEL GALLAZA PN(M)(GSC), Commander, Ph Amphibious Landing Force from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). The activity highlighted the speech from the Commander IPE23, AIRCDR McCormack and a speech from the Philippine representative, LTCOL GALLAZA PN(M)(GSC).
The departure of Exercise Alon 2023 participants onboard HMAS Canberra from Australia to the Philippines after the opening ceremony depicts the start of a bilateral and joint led amphibious field training exercise (FTX) of the Australia Defence Force (ADF) with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). This will be at various training locations in Northern Luzon Command (NOLCOM) and Western Command (WESCOM) with ground, aviation, and surface assets from ADF, Philippine Navy (PN), Philippine Marine Corps (PMC), Philippine Fleet (PF), Philippine Air Force, (PAF), and Philippine Army (PA) supported by USMC.
The main objective of this exercise is to enhance interoperability and be able to share tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) and best practices in the conduct of amphibious operations in the accomplishment of the PMC and AFP mission.
The said bilateral exercise will help enhance regional security through cooperation and partnership. It will further enhance interoperability and readiness to respond to shared security challenges. It will be an avenue for shared commitment to a peaceful, prosperous and resilient Indo-Pacific Region.///
