Philippine Marine Corps to Secure Maritime Routes with New Unit
A Philippine Marine Corps patrol craft attached to the Attack Boat Battalion leads a U.S. Navy rigid-hull inflatable boat with Marines and Sailors assigned to Maritime Reconnaissance Platoon, Reconnaissance Company, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, during a maritime domain awareness exercise as part of Archipelagic Coastal Defense Continuum off Palawan, Philippines, May 19, 2024.
A Philippine Marine Corps unit focused on securing sea lines of communication – including those in the South China Sea – is now operational in the force’s latest modernization effort to reorient itself from internal to external security operations.
Marine Battalion Landing Team 4 (MBLT-4) was officially recertified to the Marine Security Battalion, a first-of-its-kind formation dedicated to littoral operations, in a ceremony on July 1. A press release on the unit’s certification attributed the creation of the unit to the “increasing external threats and border disputes.”
“The unit’s transformation demonstrates the PMC’s adaptability and readiness to conduct maritime operations and littoral maneuvers in the southwestern frontier of archipelagic defense,” stated the release.