Description The United States and the Philippines will stage a 12-day joint military exercise starting Monday involving 5,000 American and 2,000 Philippine soldiers, the U.S. Navy said Friday. The exercise, code-named Balikatan '85 (shoulder to shoulder), will take place near Ft. Magsaysay, north of Manila, and at Dingalan Bay, 55 miles northwest of Manila on the Philippine Sea.
The Balikatan exercises are designed to maintain and develop the security relationship between the two countries' armed forces through crisis-action planning, through enhanced training to conduct counterterrorism operations, and through promoting interoperability of the forces.
