AFP concludes DAGIT-PA joint military exercise

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Monday concluded its third multi-service military exercise with a ceremony in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

Conducted at the AFP Education Training and Doctrine Command, the ceremony officially closed the 12-day AFP Joint Exercise (AJEX) DAGIT-PA (Dagat-Langit-Lupa) which ran from to September 16 to 27.

More than 1,500 regular soldiers and reservists from the Army (Lupa), Air Force (Langit), Navy and Marines (Dagat) participated in the AFP joint exercise. 

Among the activities were amphibious operations, airfield retake and aviation operations, urban operations, and cyber defense training throughout Northern and Western Philippines, according to the AFP Public Affairs Office (PAO).

“Our units from the regular and reserve force greatly benefitted from this multi-service exercise that aimed to develop our skills and capabilities in joint sea, air and land operations,” said Commodore Adeluis Bordado, AJEX DAGIT-PA exercise director, in a statement.

According to AFP-PAO, the joint exercise conducted four major events: air/maritime interdiction in Palawan, amphibious operations in Zambales, airfield seizure and military operation in urban terrain in Nueva Ecija and combined arms live fire in Tarlac.

Reservists were trained to enhance their military capabilities in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

A cyber defense exercise tested the military’s capabilities in building a strong infrastructure that can protect, detect, and respond to network attacks, AFP-PAO said.

AFP’s newly procured amphibious assault vehicles were also showcased during the exercise in Zambales.

“It is a continuous endeavor of the AFP to achieve better unity of command and capitalize on the synergy of military operations,” Bordado said.

“Constant joint training exercises like AJEX DAGIT-PA are necessary to enhance personnel capacity and unit capabilities of the joint forces. This will enable our members to be readily deployable to address contingencies across all mission areas,” Bordado added. —Joviland Rita/KG, GMA News