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Balikatan

Meaning "shoulder-to-shoulder" in Tagalog – the U.S.-Philippine bilateral Exercise Balikatan is designed to strengthen regional security through combined air, land, sea, cyber and space operations featuring maritime drills, coastal defense training, joint live-fire exercises and humanitarian projects.

Balikatan Seal
A forest, beach and blue ocean is seen in and expansive view, with ships sailing in the distance during the day.

AreaPhilippine Archipelago

In a closeup of a handshake, two service members shake hands on the deck of a ship outside.

20+Partner Nations

Service members surround and watch as a Marine launches a small drone with lights at night.

14,000+Troops

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This video package was created using Adobe Premiere Pro 25 and Adobe After Effects 25 to announce the beginning of Balikatan 25 through official BK social media pages at Manila, Philippines, on April 20, 2025. Balikatan is a longstanding annual exercise between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and U.S. military designed to strengthen our ironclad alliance, improve our capable combined force, and demonstrate our commitment to regional security and stability. (U.S. Marine Corps video by Cpl. Brian Knowles) This video contains imagery from a USMC enterprise licensed asset from Adobe Stock: Vintage film effect with dust and scratches overlay, giving an old vintage or damaged look to videos by stas/stock.adobe.com This video contains imagery from a USMC enterprise licensed asset from Adobe Stock: Film strip transition, background, effect of old film rolling with details, scratches and grain, vintage strip intro, old movie strip by donfiore/stock.adobe.com This video contains music from a USMC enterprise licensed asset from Adobe Stock: Pressed down by finetunemusic/stock.adobe.com Play
Balikatan 25: An Indo-Pacific Partnership
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Balikatan 25: An Indo-Pacific Partnership
This video was created using Adobe Premiere Pro 21 to announce the beginning of Exercise Balikatan 25. U.S. Marines with 3d Marine Littoral Regiment, 3d Marine Division, will be taking part in the 40th iteration of Exercise Balikatan alongside the Armed Forces of the Philippines from April 21 - May 9, 2025. Balikatan is a longstanding annual exercise between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and U.S. military designed to strengthen our ironclad alliance, improve our capable combined force, and demonstrate our commitment to regional security and stability. (U.S. Marine Corps video by Cpl. Iyer Ramakrishna) This video contains music from a USMC enterprise licensed asset from Adobe Stock: TENSE SINISTER TRAILER (AURORA ALERT) performed by FineTuneMusic/stock.adobe.com. Play
Balikatan 25 Kicks Off
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Balikatan 25 Kicks Off