Army to conduct next phase of US missile system training in Feb

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Army will conduct the next phase of its training for the United States mid-range capability (MRC) missile in their drills next month, its spokesperson, Col. Louie Dema-ala, said on Tuesday.

Dema-ala said the drills of the Army artillery regiment and United States Army Pacific (Usarpac) will focus on the usage of Typhon’s “payload delivery system” during the Philippine Army’s Combined Arms Training Exercise (Catex) to be held in February.

“The second iteration of the subject matter expert exchanges (SMEE) with the MRC between the Usarpac and the Army Artillery Regiment will focus on the payload delivery system and the continuation of what we have learned in the first iteration of the SMEE,” Dema-ala said in a regular AFP press conference.

“It will be conducted sometime in the second week to the third week of February,” he added.



The Catex Katihan is in preparation for the annual Salaknib Exercise between the armies of Manila and Washington

“New units will be involved in the training and a continuation of the previous platoon that was trained last year,” Dema-ala pointed out.

READ: Only PH decides military assets deployment in its territory – AFP

The Typhon missile arrived in the country from the United States on April 11, 2024 and was first used during the Balikatan exercises.

It has stayed in the country since and was last spotted in Ilocos Norte, a coastal province facing Taiwan, deemed by China as a renegade province subject to reunification.

Dema-ala, however, did not specify the missile's current location.

AFP chief-of-staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. has even said that he wants the Typhon missile to stay in the country "forever" and that he hopes the government could acquire its own.

"While the MRC is here, we will maximize its utilization to train our personnel in this kind of new technology," Dema-ala said.

The deployment of Typhon missile in the country comes amid mounting tensions in the West Philippine Sea due to Manila and Beijing’s overlapping claims.

READ: China renews call to pull out US missile in PH

Beijing's actions are based on its assertion of sovereignty in almost the entire South China Sea, including most of the West Philippine Sea or the western section of the country inside its 200-mile exclusive economic zone.

In 2012, Manila and Beijing had a tense standoff over Panatag Shoal, with the former withdrawing its ships from the shoal that led to the latter having an effective control of its lagoon to date.

A year later, Manila lodged an arbitration case against Beijing after this standoff which led to a historic 2016 arbitral award that effectively rejected the latter’s sweeping claims in the West Philippine Sea.

To date, the country has its own  medium-range supersonic cruise missile dubbed as "BrahMos" which has a range of 290 to 400 kilometers that could travel at Mach 2.8, or about three times faster than the speed of sound.

 

(2025/01/28-14:51)