Speaking to reporters at a get-together with veterans of the armed forces here, Affandi said recent urban conflicts such as the Marawi war in southern Philippines provide a useful lesson.
“Urban warfare is something in which we need to strengthen our capability,” Affandi said.
“We have the capability, but we need to enhance it according to what’s currently happening.
“We will study the involvement of other countries in conflicts and this will provide a lesson to us on how to strengthen our own doctrine.”
Though Affandi could not provide the actual start date of the new indoctrination of all branches of the military in urban warfare, it was previously reported that it will commence this year.
More than 1,100 people, mostly militants, were killed in Marawi city during the five-month long conflict between troops and pro-Islamic State (IS) groups last year.
The Philippine military, mostly trained in conventional warfare, was said to have been inadequately prepared for the attacks by the militants in May.
It was reported that they had to eventually get help from the United States and Australia before they could retake the city in late October.
One of the problems faced by the Philippine military during the Marawi conflict was the friendly fire on ground troops by its air force.
It was reported that the Philippine air force had not held a joint-urban warfare exercise with the army.
The attacks on the city by the Abu Sayyaf and Maute groups came as a surprise to the Philippine security forces who had been battling insurgencies for decades but mostly in a non-urban setting.
The battle for the city with a majority Muslim population in the mainly Catholic Philippines, even took longer than the time taken by the US-led campaign to liberate Manila from Japanese occupation forces in World War 2.
In the process, the military literally destroyed Marawi to save it from pro-IS gunmen who were intent on carving out territory for a Southeast Asian caliphate.
Military officials said the militants, who numbered about one thousand, brought in a new style of urban warfare that initially confused Filipino troops.
“These terrorists are using combat tactics that we’ve seen in the Middle East,” US Pacific Command chief Admiral Harry Harris told a security forum in Singapore last October.
He added that it also marked the first time that IS-inspired militant groups had joined forces to fight on such a scale in the region.
Consequently, security experts have called on Asean military forces to enhance their capability to tackle urban threats by terror groups eyeing the region as their new focus after the fall of IS’ so-called caliphate in Syria and Iraq.
Urban warfare training
Last November, FMT reported Royal Malaysian Air Force chief Gen Affendi Buang as saying the air force will introduce urban warfare to their capability in 2018.
“Urban warfare such as that in the Marawi siege is something new for us. We will introduce it in our training from next year,” Affendi said.
“We have to change our air power approach in an urban warfare situation. This will involve our weaponry, surveillance capabilities and assets.
“For example, we currently have a small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) capability. We need to enhance this so that we can be fully prepared to face not just conventional threats but also threats of terrorism and violent extremism.”
A southeast Asian security expert previously told FMT that Singapore is the only nation in the region whose branches of the armed forces are prepared for urban warfare.
Zachary Abuza, a professor at the Washington-based National War College, said all branches of the militaries in the region should train for a conflict like Marawi.
It is believed that only the special forces and certain units in the army in southeast Asia are trained in urban warfare.
RMAF to train in urban warfare as terror threat grows in region
Asean nations must brace themselves for small-scale IS attacks