Philippine, US forces attend opening ceremony for 'Balikatan' drills

The Philippines and the United States have kicked off the 40th iteration of their annual "Balikatan" joint military exercise. The US military is set to deploy a cutting-edge weapon system at this year's drill.  A total of over 14,000 troops from the two countries are taking part in the 19-day exercise, whose name means "shoulder to shoulder" in Filipino.

Both forces will conduct live-fire defense training simulating missile attacks along the Philippine coast. They'll also carry out amphibious landing exercises on northern coastal areas and outlying islands near Chinese Taipei to strengthen joint operational coordination. The US side will deploy the NMESIS anti-ship missile system and unmanned surface vessels to the Philippines for the first time as part of joint training.