USNS Brunswick (T-EPF 6), a United States Navy expeditionary fast-transport vessel, was spotted in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan on Friday, Oct. 14, as "KAMANDAG" Exercise 2022 officially concluded.
The USNS Brunswick was deployed by the US Navy to take part in the KAMANDAG Exercise by ferrying American troops to and from Palawan, said Vice Adm. Alberto Carlos, commander of Western Command (WESCOM).
"The USNS Brunswick and the multilateral forces participating in the exercise here in Palawan have forged bilateral and multilateral exchanges between Philippine and U.S. forces, as well as Japan and South Korea," he noted.
"Our joint forces in WESCOM have been given the opportunity to improve their interoperability with participating countries for combined operations that are focused on littoral, territorial, and coastal defense, and maritime domain awareness," Carlos added.
The USNS Brunswick is a military sealift command expeditionary fast-transport vessel that is capable of providing rapid intra-theater transport of troops and military equipment. It can carry up to 600 short tons of equipment for distances of 1,200 nautical miles at an average speed of 35 knots (nautical miles per hour).
Carlos emphasized that the presence of USNS Brunswick, as a naval platform for the training events, served as a "manifestation of the ironclad support of the United States to the Philippines as allies and Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) partner, in which the Western Command directly benefits from."
KAMANDAG, or Kaagapay ng mga Mandirigma ng Dagat, is a joint military exercise between the Philippine Marine Corps (PMC) and the United States Marine Corps (USMC). Allied countries Japan and South Korea had also participated in said exercise as observers.
A total of 3,760 troops from PMC and USMC participated in the bilateral exercise while troops from Republic of Korea Marine Corps and Japan Self-Defense Ground Corps acted as observers. The drills were held across Luzon from Oct. 3 to 14.
Aside from the USNS Brunswick, several US Navy and Coast Guard ships had also made port visits in Palawan and conducted martime exercises and freedom of navigation operations (FONOPS) in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), as well as humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR) operations.
This includes the USS RUSHMORE (LSD-47), and the US Navy Hospital Ship MERCY (T-AH 19) in which the latter served as the platform in the recently concluded Pacific Partnership 2022 in Palawan.