A few days ago, four A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft from the United States Air Force (USAF) landed at Clark Air Base in the Philippines to participate in a Dynamic Force Employment (DFE) exercise alongside the Philippine Air Force (PAF). The aircraft, belonging to the 25th Fighter Squadron, arrived on December 6 for what is expected to be realistic combat training with local forces.
The arrival and presence of the A-10 Warthogs, which did not go unnoticed, will involve integrated training aimed at giving pilots and teams the opportunity to strengthen joint capabilities and improve interoperability until December 15. According to a statement from the Pacific Air Forces Command, a DFE combines the ability and readiness for large-scale combat operations that are operationally unpredictable in a competitive and contested environment that is constantly evolving.
However, it should be noted that the deployment of the A-10s occurs against the backdrop of tensions between China and the Philippines, two nations that continually assert their claims of sovereignty over islands and archipelagos in the region. In this context, the United States has maintained a focused interest in the Indo-Pacific region as one of the scenarios where China’s power continues to grow. This has been evident in the increasing number of military exercises and deployments of ships and aircraft over the past few years.
In line with this, the current deployment marks the second joint training exercise involving U.S. and Philippine air forces since late November. At that time, both nations sent combat aircraft for a training mission over the Philippine Sea, a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean located east of the Southeast Asian country.
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