Five vessels carrying around 1,200 US navy soldiers docked at the Alava Pier, Subic Bay, on Tuesday for a new round of joint Philippine-US marine exercises, local reports said.

The US troops are joining the naval exercise called Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT), an annual joint training activity between the naval forces of the United States and six Southeast Asia nations including the Philippines.

A total of 800 Philippine Navy soldiers will be joining the event.

The week-long training, which will be held in various training sites in Manila, Zambales, and Palawan, will end on Aug. 23.

The US vessels came directly from the just-concluded CARAT exercises with the Royal Brunei Navy.

CARAT is a regularly scheduled series of bilateral military training exercises with six Southeast Asia nations designed to enhance interoperability of the respective sea services.

The Philippines is the last stop for the US six-phase CARAT training exercises for this year.

Source: Xinhua