US, Philippines take cyberwar games to next level amid ‘pressure from China’
Next year’s Balikatan drills are set to incorporate advanced threat-emulation software to simulate live-fire cyber defence

Jennifer Schmidt, head of the US embassy’s information and communications technology unit, said specialised training ranges and sophisticated threat-emulation software would be incorporated into next year’s Balikatan drills so troops could rehearse defending networks and critical systems under fire.
She described cyber cooperation as an emerging “central pillar” of the US-Philippines alliance, on a par with maritime and air defence.
The goal was to bake cyber defence into all levels of government and develop “a deeper, more resilient technical partnership” that linked battlefield interoperability with the protection of national infrastructure, Schmidt told the 2025 Pilipinas Conference in Makati City last Thursday.
