A United States-led zero-trust network platform designed to integrate allied military operations during crises– the INDOPACOM Mission Network (IMN)–was tested for the first time during the recently concluded Balikatan exercises, according to a top US commander.
The IMN linked forces from the United States, the Philippines, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Canada in a series of joint and combined operations conducted across the archipelago during the annual war games, Admiral Samuel Paparo Jr., commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, said during the closing ceremony of the Balikatan exercises in Manila on Friday, May 8.
The IMN is designed to allow allied and partner militaries to securely share operational data, intelligence and battlefield information across different domains while maintaining cybersecurity protections through a “zero-trust” architecture.
In Palawan, for instance, the network was used during a counter-landing live-fire exercise in which intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sensors fed into a combined command-and-control system coordinating operations across multiple domains, according to Paparo. The drills integrated fighter aircraft, mortars, machine guns while troops from the Philippines, the United States, Australia and New Zealand maneuvered as a multinational counter-landing force, he said.
“We had our first operational employment of the network together as the primary command-and-control network for the force. The entire multinational force embedded this structure, including the newly inaugurated Combined Coordination Center (CCC), building the trust and the interoperability necessary to respond to any crisis,”
Admiral Samuel Paparo Jr., commander of the US Indo-Pacific CommandThe new CCC at the military headquarters at Camp Aguinaldo serves as a command-and-control hub between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the US Indo-Pacific Command, enabling real-time information sharing and a common operating picture during exercises and potential contingencies.
“We’ve been working on this for five years… We’ve made investments to build it out with the right network and the Indo-Pacific Mission Network, a secure zero-trust network,” Paparo said. “We’re very excited about it. You can expect to see multilateral maritime cooperation activities. You can expect to see future Balikatan exercises led from there through coalition combined command centers, conferring unity of effort across the multinational force,” he added.
This year’s Balikatan exercises, held from April 20 to May 8, marked the largest iteration of the annual Philippine-US drills and featured expanded multilateral training across air, land, sea, space and cyber domains.
Major activities were conducted in areas facing the South China Sea and Taiwan, including maritime key terrain security operations in Batanes and Balabac, counter-landing fire drills in Palawan and Ilocos Norte, and integrated air and missile defense exercises in Zambales. This year’s exercises also featured the first live-fire test of the US Army’s Typhon mid-range capability system using a Tomahawk cruise missile, as well as Japan’s first live-fire exercise involving Type 88 anti-ship missiles that sank a decommissioned warship.
Additional missiles for the Philippines
Armed Forces of the Philippines chief General Romeo Brawner Jr. said the Philippines plans to acquire additional missile systems similar to those used during this year’s Balikatan exercises.
“We have plans of procuring more of the missile systems that we saw recently used here in the Balikatan exercise. That is the future direction of the Armed Forces of the Philippines as we modernize our capabilities,” he said on the sidelines of the closing ceremony.
“If you look at the modern warfare happening now between Ukraine and Russia, and in the Middle East between the United States and Iran — of course, Israel against Hezbollah — we see the heavy use of missile systems and drones. So integrated air and missile defense has to come into the picture,” he said.
“In order for us to be able to have that capability to defend our archipelago from attacks, possible attacks from outside, then we will have to have these types of weapons,” he added.
