Japan recently conducted parachute drills on Batan Island in the Philippines’ northern Batanes province as part of Kamandag, a joint military exercise with the Philippines and the United States that concluded on June 24. The event involved approximately 2,000 troops and aimed to enhance readiness, cooperation, and intelligence-sharing among the participating forces. The relatively low-profile nature of this exercise contrasted with several other larger US-led military drills unfolding across the Indo-Pacific region during the same period.

Concurrently, Japan and the United States have been holding Resolute Dragon 2026 on the southwestern Japanese islands of Kyushu and Okinawa. This exercise, concluding on June 27, involved around 9,000 personnel focusing on the defense of these strategically important territories. Further east in the Pacific, about 10,000 military personnel took part in Valiant Shield 2026 around Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. Notably, this marked the first deployment of the US military’s Typhon mid-range missile system during an exercise. Additionally, the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise in Hawaii, running until July 31, engaged over 25,000 personnel from 31 nations to promote maritime cooperation and uphold a “free and open Indo-Pacific.”

Taiwan conducted its own Immediate Combat Readiness Exercise in Taoyuan with 100,000 troops testing rapid mobilisation capabilities. While some analysts question whether these nearly simultaneous exercises signify a coordinated US strategy, several experts view the pattern as indicative of Washington’s renewed emphasis on its “first island chain” policy. This concept involves maintaining a defensive arc stretching from the Japanese archipelago through Taiwan and the Philippines down to the Greater Sunda Islands, intended to counter China’s expanding maritime influence in the East and South China seas.

Hunter Marston, director of the Southeast Asia Programme at the Lowy Institute, described US commitments along this island chain as central to its Pacific Command’s agenda. “Denying adversaries sea and air control across critical maritime corridors remains a core American security objective,” he noted, referencing the 2026 US National Defence Strategy’s prioritization of denial capabilities. Marston highlighted Washington’s encouragement for allies like Japan to take more active security roles, reflecting a continuation of emphasis on burden sharing introduced during the Trump administration.

Sylwia Monika Gorska, a political analyst specializing in East Asian geopolitics, observed a strategic shift in these exercises away from continuous sea or air dominance toward maintaining capabilities to detect, target, reinforce, and sustain forces amid contested environments. She suggested this approach anticipates future conflicts characterized by intermittent and localized disruptions rather than stable control over whole battle zones. While Taiwan remains the most complex contingency, Gorska said US planning increasingly assumes multiple possible escalation scenarios, prioritizing versatile military capabilities applicable across various situations.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Fazil Bin Abdul Rahman, a research fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, cautioned against interpreting the exercises as fully coordinated by Washington, noting that regional allies also act out of their respective national interests amid ongoing tensions with China.

The broader trend underscores a US strategy that continues to rely on its own bases and forces but increasingly seeks more robust contributions from regional partners, including Japan, the Philippines, and Australia. These allies are expected to provide complementary capabilities, personnel, and access across a wider territorial expanse, forming a more distributed security coalition, according to Vina Nadjibulla, vice-president at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.

The exercises coincide with heightened Chinese military activity, including live-fire drills by the Liaoning aircraft carrier group in the western Pacific, notably in waters near the Philippines and Taiwan, illustrating the growing intensity of military posturing in the region.