Aaron-Matthew Lariosa – October 8, 2025 1:01 PM
Washington and Manila kicked off the latest iteration of the Sama Sama naval drills on Monday in the vicinity of a western Philippine province located near South China Sea hotspots.
Sama Sama, a Tagalog word that translates to “together,” originally began as a series of maritime security drills in 2017. Since then, the U.S.-Philippine co-hosted exercise has grown to include more combat activities, as well as anti-piracy and humanitarian missions, amid Manila’s naval modernization efforts.
Participants and observers for 2025’s iterations include the U.S., Philippines, Australia, Japan, France, the United Kingdom, Thailand, Italy, Canada and New Zealand. BRP Antonio Luna (FF-151), BRP Valentin Diaz (PS-177), USS Cincinnati (LCS-20) and JS Ōnami (DD-111) are among the vessels confirmed to participate in the exercise, which is set to run Oct. 6-17.
While most activities and location areas remain unclear, a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force news release stated that Onami will hold a tactical exercise to improve anti-surface warfare capabilities with U.S. and Philippine forces.
Manila has increasingly turned to international partners to help bolster its naval forces via training exercises amid tensions in the South China Sea with Beijing. Previous Sama Sama exercises have occurred in the waters, which have seen numerous incidents between Chinese and Philippine forces around contested maritime features.
This will also be the first Sama Sama iteration to be held under the newly christened Western Naval Command, a recently stood up Philippine military command structure meant to enhance coordination and operations in the country’s western exclusive economic zone. The Philippine Navy has said the reorganization will help in the upcoming Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept, Manila’s new defense strategy designed to counter modern threats.
Sama Sama 2025 follows a string of incidents in the South China Sea. Since last year’s June 17 incident, which saw a Philippine Navy SEAL lose his thumb in a boat collision with the China Coast Guard, the waters off Palawan have remained relatively calm. However several severe collisions have happened in the waters off Luzon, – the country’s most populous and largest island – including water cannon incidents and naval standoffs in recent weeks at Scarborough Shoal.