Manila, Sept. 23 -- Philippine Army (PA) commander Lt. Gen. Donald Gumiran sees more drills and interoperability exercises with foreign counterparts to beef up external defense capabilities.

In a media interview on Tuesday, Gumiran said the Army is conducting training with the militaries of like-minded nations to "achieve interoperability".

The Philippines has conducted military exercises such as "Balikatan" and "Salaknib" with the United States, Australia, and Japan, among others.

"Balikatan" started in 1991. It is the premier Philippine-US exercise 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 hu...