PH Marines join ‘Yama Sakura’ trilateral cooperation as observers
A contingent from the Philippine Marine Corps and Philippine Army took part in the largest iteration of Yama Sakura, a military command post exercise involving the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, United States Army and Australian Army.
The participation of Filipino soldiers as observers at Camp Asaka, located near Tokyo, and Camp Kengun in Kumamoto, Japan, was upon the invitation of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. The Philippines has been sending observers to Yama Sakura since 2022.
Yama Sakura, a command post exercise between the Japanese and U.S. armies since 1982, has since evolved into trilateral cooperation with the entry of Australia in the last two years, after being an observer for more than a decade.
This year’s exercise is taking place from Dec. 6-14, 2024, which also marks “a historic milestone with the execution of the U.S. Army Warfighter command post exercise” that will be held for the first time in the exercise’s over 40-year history, according to the U.S. Army.
Yama Sakura Exercise 87 will involve around 300 Australian Army troops, 1,500 U.S. Army personnel and 5,000 Japanese soldiers in locations throughout Japan, the U.S. and Australia.
The U.S. Army said the simultaneous execution of Yama Sakura and Warfighter exercise demonstrates “multilateral partnership to conduct complex, multi-echelon operations across vast distances (and) across multiple locations to strengthen international partnerships.”
