Military drills on the edge: U.S. and allies test capabilities near Asia's flash points

"Silver drone boats scanned the azure waters for targets, rocket artillery rounds blasted out from behind sand dunes, mortars and machine guns raked the surf, and generator-powered air conditioners and tents cooled stacks of data servers on the beach, as U.S. and allied forces practiced repelling an amphibious assault."

"It's part of a U.S.-led drill on Luzon, the Philippines' largest island, dubbed Balikatan, or "shoulder to shoulder" in Tagalog. It put to test the U.S. military's new weapons, emerging strategies and shifting alliances, amid geopolitical tensions and rapidly evolving technologies."

""It's really about 'see, sense, strike and protect,'" Gen. Ronald Clark, commander of the U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC), told NPR in an interview. "We want to see the enemy first," he added, to repel any attack on the Philippines."

"China condemned the drills as destabilizing for the region and, in response, sent its own naval task force to conduct live-fire drills east of Luzon, the Philippines' main island."

Silver drone boats scanned waters for targets while rocket artillery, mortars, and machine guns engaged positions near the surf. Generator-powered air conditioners and tents cooled data servers on the beach during the exercises. The drills, part of Balikatan on Luzon, tested emerging weapons and strategies and reflected shifting alliances amid regional tensions. More than 17,000 troops from the U.S., Philippines, Japan, France, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand participated over nearly three weeks. The exercises took place near flash points involving Taiwan and the South China Sea. U.S. and allied cooperation supported collective deterrence across the first island chain. China condemned the drills and conducted live-fire naval drills east of Luzon.

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