A French Air and Space Force contingent on the Pegase 2024 mission stopped in the Philippines for the first time in July as part of France’s annual Indo-Pacific deployment to demonstrate combat power and air diplomacy.
France and the Philippines have been steadily increasing their security engagements and deepening their defense ties. In recent months, the nations have been working toward a more extensive defense pact.
The Pegase mission is key to France’s Indo-Pacific strategy, which aims to assert presence, protect sovereign spaces and promote international law amid increasing maritime activity by the People’s Republic of China.
Pegase 2024 included exercises and stopovers with other Allies and Partners including Australia, Indonesia, Japan and the United States to demonstrate interoperability across joint and combined forces.
“The message of the Pegase mission is that we are able to send very quickly, very far, our best and our modern aircraft able to ensure the security of the area in the Indo-Pacific where the French interests are concerned and are threatened,” said Brig. Gen. Guillaume Thomas, head of the French Air Defense and Operations Command, which is one of three components of the French Air and Space Force.
“We want to demonstrate the expansion of our military partnership in the air domain to showcase the trust and vitality of our relationship and to demonstrate that France stands close to the Philippines,” Thomas told reporters.
During a series of engagements, Philippine fighter pilots rode in French-built Rafale jets and flew alongside the supersonic aircraft in their own South Korean-built FA-50 light fighters.
French Airmen flew two Rafale multirole fighters, two A400M tactical lift aircraft, and two A330 aerial refueling and transport aircraft during the visit at Clark Air Base in Pampanga, north of Manila, from July 27-31.
“France is a nation of the Pacific, so we need to protect our population, our overseas territories, our interests in the region, and support our sovereignty forces in these territories at short notice,” Thomas said.
Paris has expanded defense ties with Manila over the past three years, Don McLain Gill, a lecturer at the Department of International Studies at De La Salle University in Manila, told FORUM.
“A deeper, more comprehensive agreement seems like a natural progression,” he said. “Given France’s large stakes in the security of the Indo-Pacific, it is crucial for it to strengthen ties with resident countries in the region. Moreover, with the unfolding geopolitics of the South China Sea, distant powers have become more interested in contributing to its stability based on international law.”
France and the Philippines have increased defense engagements since formally agreeing to strengthen their relationship in December 2023. In April, France deployed the frigate FS Vendémiaire to join Balikatan, the largest annual military exercise between the Philippines and the U.S. In June, Paris stationed a defense attache in Manila for the first time, ensuring more joint defense activities.
Preliminary talks are underway for a bilateral visiting forces agreement that would allow each nation’s troops to train and exercise in the other’s territory. France plans to submit the first draft of the agreement to Manila by September 2024, according to Marie Fontanel, French ambassador to the Philippines.
The Philippines has visiting forces agreements with Australia and the U.S. and recently signed a Reciprocal Access Agreement with Japan. It hopes to sign similar agreements with Canada and New Zealand.
The expanding security partnership with France could pave the way “for more integrated capacity building through technology transfers and knowledge transfers to improve the Philippines’ national defense industry,” Gill said.
France, for example, has expertise in humanitarian aid and disaster relief assets, such as the A330 aircraft and its medical unit. Like the Philippines, France’s overseas territories are a vast archipelago subject to increasing climatic hazards and potential challenges in accessing medical care.
“Overall, France is a welcome contributor and alternative security and development partner. A successful France-Philippines partnership can be a benchmark for other Southeast Asian countries,” Gill said.
The Philippines’ initiatives to strengthen ties with partners beyond Southeast Asia represent a strategic realignment in response to regional challenges. France and other partners have emphasized a commitment to freedom of navigation and overflight as guaranteed by international law by supporting the Philippines’ sovereignty claims within its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.
By deepening defense and security partnerships, the Philippines seeks to enhance its military capabilities, bolster its national security, ensure regional stability and uphold the principles of international law.
