AFP concludes 2 major training exercises

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 17) —The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) wrapped up two major training exercises this week as it vowed to scale up its defense capabilities to confront increasing external threats, including those in the cyber domain.

Both the unilateral “Dagat, Langit at Lupa” or AJEX DAGIT-PA exercises and the Kamandag exercises between the Philippine and US marines formally ended on Friday.

The AFP is giving special attention to cyber defense as it acknowledged how cyber threats can impact national security.

Its cyberspace operations aim to monitor, detect, respond and recover from cyber attacks to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of military plans and other critical data.

According to the AFP, “cyb-ex” or cyber defense exercises are now a common fixture in training missions of its units as well as those with allied forces.

AFP officials also pointed out that the transition from internal operations to territorial defense remains at the core of all military drills, given the evolving security landscape in the region.

“We're doing a lot of maritime security exercises, a lot of kinetic exercises in the littorals. So, you will see a drastic shift, away from the tactical and more on the operational level,” said Colonel Mike Logico, spokesperson for AJEX DAGIT-PA.