Philippines, Australia set joint military exercises this year

MANILA, Philippines – The armies of the Philippines and Australia are scheduled to conduct joint military exercises in both countries this year.

Philippine Army (PA) spokesperson Col. Benjamin Hao said the two joint military exercises, namely the Philippine-Australia Exercise “Dusk” Caracha and the Philippines-Australia Exercise “Dawn” Caracha, will be held separately in Philippines and Australia in line with their existing defense cooperation program.

According to Hao, Exercise “Dusk” Caracha 2015 is a combined training activity between the Special Operations Commands (SOCOM) of both the Philippine and Australian armies which is slated from September 15 to 26 in Perth, Western Australia.

Participants of Exercise “Dusk” Caracha 2015 will utilize the training facilities of the Special Air Service Regiment in Australia.

PA will also send 25 personnel from the Light Reaction Regiment, SOCOM to participate in the said exercise in Australia.

Exercise “Dusk” Caracha seeks to strengthen the counter-terrorist skills and capabilities of PA’s Light Reaction Regiment with its close-quarter battle training, sniper skills, development training and unit collective training.

On the other hand, the Philippines-Australia Exercise “Dawn” Caracha 2015, which will be participated by 102 participants from the PA and 15 soldiers from Australian Army, aims to develop the interoperability between the Special Forces units of both countries.

Exercise “Dawn” Caracha 2015 is an army-to-army exercise between the Special Air Service Regment, SOCOM, Australia and the SOCOM held yearly.

This year, Exercise “Dawn” Caracha will be conducted in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija from October 19 to 30.

Aside from Australia, Brunei is also eyed to conduct joint exercises and trainings with PA to enhance their cooperation and improve their interoperability.