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1h ago

Australia, Canada and Philippines Run Air-Defense Drills Near Scarborough Shoal

The drills capped Exercise ALON 2025 to showcase Manila’s pivot to territorial defense.

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This photo provided by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and taken on Philippine Navy BRP Jose Rizal (FF150) during Exercise ALON 2025 shows it sailing in formation with Australian navy HMAS Brisbane (DDG41) and Canadian navy frigate HMCS Ville de Québec (FFH332), east of Scarborough Shoal, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. (Armed Forces of the Philippines via AP)
This photo uploaded to the BRP Sierra Madre Facebook page shows the former the Philippine tank-landing ship at Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea's Spratly Islands,
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Overview

  • Philippine frigate BRP Jose Rizal, Australian destroyer HMAS Brisbane and Canadian frigate HMCS Ville de Québec formed a task group east of the disputed shoal for coordinated air-defense maneuvers.
  • Military imagery released by Manila showed at least three fighter jets and combat helicopters supporting the exercise.
  • The Philippine military said the event concluded safely with no reported encounters with Chinese coast guard, navy or militia vessels.
  • The activity served as a final naval phase of Exercise ALON 2025, billed as the largest Australia–Philippines drills with more than 3,600 personnel over 15 days.
  • Tensions remain high after an Aug. 11 collision between Chinese navy and coast guard ships near the shoal, U.S. warships transited within 30 nautical miles without incident later in the month, and satellite images show the damaged Chinese cutter under repair on Hainan.