Organising, mobilising and sustaining 17,000 troops from seven countries across a dispersed battlespace requires high-level integrated coordination.
Answering this need for Exercise Balikatan were two fusion centres - one in the north and one in the west - bringing together representatives from each country to ensure effective integration and manage deconfliction.
From tracking enemy injects, deconflicting multinational forces and mapping units in real time, ADF liaison officer Captain Michael Kelly said the northern Luzon command fusion centre acted like an arterial road for the exercise's coordination and communication.
"We're maintaining situational awareness of all the units that are operating within the northern Luzon region and communicating that to make sure everyone is running on the same page," Captain Kelly said.
"We all have the same mission, the same threats and we're all working towards the same goal."
The fusion centre was organised into warfighting functions, with teams covering command and control, intelligence, sustainment, fires and effects, manoeuvre and protection.
Command and control managed communication and coordination, while intelligence informed decision-making.
'We all have the same mission, the same threats and we're all working towards the same goal.'
Sustainment handled logistics, and fires and effects covered artillery and other strike systems.
Manoeuvre focused on force movement, while protection focused on safeguarding key assets and capabilities.
Captain Kelly said being exposed to planning at a much larger scale than he was used to in Australia was a valuable experience.
"Being able to coordinate the same effects from different nations has been challenging and rewarding," he said.
"We are doing a lot of battle tracking and working together about how we solve real-world problems, which helped improve coordination between nations."
Philippine Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Dennis Rieta, designated officer-in-charge of the fusion centre for Exercise Balikatan, said the activity had improved how partner nations coordinated and shared information.
"It's very nice because it's so productive and interactive that we exchange ideas and best practices, so we learn a lot," he said.
Lieutenant Colonel Rieta said the fusion centre acted as a coordination element to support activities across the exercise and ensure they ran smoothly.
"We're learning a lot from different perspectives across countries, including best practices and battle tracking," he said.
The cooperation and lessons learnt from Balikatan would continue beyond the exercise, Lieutenant Colonel Rieta said, strengthening how partner nations worked together.
