The Philippine Defense Strategic Opportunity: Enabling Allied and Partner Innovation

As China expands its reach in the first island chain and aggressively goes after Philippine naval assets and contested territory, the Philippines have responded by setting in motion a Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept, which emphasizes maritime security.

But to do so, the Philippines need to innovate beyond legacy concepts of defense and traditional means of doing so, such as solely having a large capital ship navy to contest the Chinese. And as the Filipinos innovate, they are taking note of lessons learned around the world and providing options for their coastal defense which interact more effectively with allies and partners in regional defense efforts.

Most notably, the intersection between the strategic direction of archipelagic defense intersects well with ways the U.S. Marines are innovating to deliver a more lethal and survivable littoral defense capability.

For example, in this year’s Balikatan exercise, the U.S. and the Philippines worked on ways to defend an island chain near Taiwan.

As noted in a USNI News article published on May 9, 2024:

A combined Marine Corps and Army force, composed of a company from the Littoral Combat Team of the 3d Marine Littoral Regiment and elements from the 25th Infantry Division and the Philippines’ 4th Marine Brigade, deployed to the Province of Batanes in Manila’s largest annual military drills. The deployment to the region during Balikatan was under “a scenario designed to preserve and protect Philippine territorial integrity,” 1st Lt. Anne Pentaleri, 3rd MLR public affairs officer, told USNI News.

And in an article by 1st Lt. John Fischer, 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, published on June 2, 2024, the focus on Philippine coastal defense was highlighted:

Elements of I and III Marine Expeditionary Forces (MEF) concluded the latest iteration of the Archipelagic Coastal Defense Continuum (ACDC) bilateral training with units from across the Philippine Marine Corps, including the Philippine Coastal Defense Regiment on May 31, 2024. The training took place from the diverse landscapes of Paredes in the north to the mountainous jungles of Barira in the southern Philippines….

This series of ACDC training events began following Exercise Balikatan 24, with I MEF (Forward), commanded by Col. Stuart Glenn, assuming command and control of all Marine Forces within the Philippines. The Philippine Marine Corps welcomed the U.S. Marines with the 13th MEU CE to Fort Bonifacio to begin this continuation of training and command integration. The 13th MEU coordinated and oversaw the training of various units, including the 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment in Luzon, Marine Wing Support Squadron (MWSS) 371, Marine Air Control Group 38, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing at Clark Air Base and Fort Bonifacio, 1st Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company (ANGLICO), I MEF Information Group, the 15th MEU in Palawan, and 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division (V 1/7) in Mindanao, alongside their Philippine counterparts through daily meetings, working groups, and collaborative exchanges…

What has been at the heart of Filipino innovation is shifting from internal security issues (fighting domestic terrorists) to providing for the defense of the nation, which is very challenging as it is a littoral nation with more than 7,000 islands. They have formed a new Marine Coastal Defense Regiment to specifically address outward looking littoral operations.

The United States, Japan and the Philippines are in the beginning stages of building a trilateral framework for regional security. Because of recent PRC incursions and aggressive activities, a large focus will be on the ability of the Philippines to defend its territory.

The framework is crucial for them to do so in a way that is interactive with their regional neighbors, the US, and even European countries. In recent months, the Italian Carrier ITS Cavour visited the Philippines. For the first time in 20 years, Germany visited the Philippines with the FGS Baden-Württemberg and FGS Frankfurt am Main.

This comes at a time where the United States is no longer in the position to spread thin its forces in the Pacific, but rather needs to be able to be interactive with allies and partners who are increasingly seeing the pressure away from “rules-based” order. Naval forces around the world are also seeking ways to assert themselves with maritime innovations to create asymmetric naval power advantages for persistent presence and deterrence.

In this regard, the Philippines is moving out on a concept that combines land-based strike missiles against sea-based targets, UAV and USVs to generate the ISR needed for targeting, and designing a force that can sustain itself with autonomy. A two-sided sword of UAVs and USVs provides a significant shield for Philippine defense and intersects with the U.S. and allied operational forces in the region. In other words, it meets the needs for the Philippines and adds significant capability which her allies can leverage.

It is no longer about seeking to solely buy legacy defense capabilities – capital ships and airplanes to provide for defense over a long acquisition cycle. Much shorter routes for credible defense are provided by combining land-based missiles with maritime ISR and counter-ISR provided by a combined capability from USVs and UAVs, reinforced as UUVs come on line as well. The Philippines have already started down this path.

To discuss this approach, I recently interviewed LtGen “Stick” Rudder (Retired) whose last post was as the MARFORPAC Commander. He is a frequent visitor to the nations in the first island chain, and most recently returned from the Philippines.

According to Rudder: When thinking about Philippine defense you are talking about a country with over 7000 islands with the northern island less than 80 miles from Taiwan. The northern area encompasses the Luzon Straits which are critical for regional and global trade. This important area of islands and maritime choke points must be protected by ground, air, and maritime capabilities. The Philippines and the region depend on its access for shipping, island sustainment, and freedom of access to fisheries. It is but one area that frames the Comprehensive Archipelago Defense Concept (CADC).

As the Chinese have aggressively operated in the first island chain, Rudder notes that we have seen enhanced trilateral cooperation among Japan, the Philippines and the United States. There has been comprehensive work to move forward with several agreements, notably in terms of force access. Regional partnerships are key in countering Chinese actions in the gray zone. Any air or maritime miscalculation could activate collective defense agreements. In other words, we need to work on integrated deterrence in the gray zone and our ability to counter Chinese actions without generating escalation we collectively do not want to see.

We then discussed his assessment of credible force development for the Philippines.

Given the size of the Philippine Navy and the wide expanse of coverage required, conventional Navy and Coast Guard ships must be augmented with unmanned capabilities. In conjunction with the Air Force, the Philippines are focusing on the Philippine Navy and Marine Corps Coastal Defense Regiment (CDR) and acquiring long-range anti-ship missiles and accompanying ISR to create the desired coverage and reach within their maritime domain.

They are also adding the HIMARS system with integrated ISR employing a combination of manned and unmanned systems. Growing a maritime ISR capability will be critical to identify and potentially target anything threatening inside the Philippine EEZ. Maritime and air unmanned systems offer an affordable, capable, and persistent Navy and Marine Corps addition to deliver the kind of ISR needed.

He added that he believed their desire to field USVs is another capability which makes sense for the Philippines as it does for Navies around the world.

Uncrewed vessels can provide them with an ability to maneuver at speed to intercept, identify, and escort. Having “clusters” of these capabilities in critical areas significantly expands the ISR coverage in their archipelagic territory.  

I applaud the Philippine strategic and operational planners; they are on the right path. The pursuit of unmanned capabilities will be the beginning elements of an unmanned network that I would consider to be a credible 3–5-year program of rapidly enhancing Filipino defense. This combined with the increased network of allies and partners will be important aspects to defend the Philippines.

Credit: Graphic: ID 247726796 | Phillipines Map © Fluffthecat | Dreamstime.com