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Latest News in the South China Sea
The U.S. Army’s new ground-based launcher, the US Missile Defense System was deployed in Northern Luzon near Taiwan for the 2024 Balikatan exercise.
The Philippine and US forces will carry out their first-ever military exercises outside the Southeast Asian country’s territorial waters, in a move China has said, will only lead to greater insecurity in the South China Sea.
The annual Balikatan or shoulder-to-shoulder drills – which will run from 22 April to 10 May – will involve 16,700 soldiers simulating retaking enemy-occupied islands in areas facing Taiwan and the West Philippine Sea. Contingents from the Australian Defense Force and the French Navy, for the first time in Balikatan’s history, will also join the exercise and drills as participants.
Meanwhile, another 14 nations will participate as part of the international observers. These are the like-minded countries of Brunei, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
It will be the first time the maritime exercises are carried out beyond the Philippines’ 12 nautical miles territorial waters, but within Manila’s Exclusive Economic zones, in parts of open sea claimed by China. It will also be the first time the Philippine Coast Guard has taken part in military exercises. The Coast Guard has increasingly been at the forefront of clashes with China, particularly around the disputed Second Thomas Shoal.
The US Army has for the first time, deployed a Mid-Range Capacity land-attack and surface-to-air missile defense system, to the Philippines as part of its 2024 military Bilateral Exercise. The system was deployed in early April to northern Luzon, with the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force onboard a C-17 Globemaster III, with the support of the US Air Force’s 62nd Airlift Wing from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington.
The deployment of the system, which provides a land-attack range as far as 2,500km and altitude out to 108,000ft, has marked a substantial boost in capability in a region where China has been taking a stronger position in recent years.
The U.S. Army’s new ground-based launcher, capable of supporting Tomahawk cruise missiles and SM-6, appeared for the first time in the Indo-Pacific in a deployment to the Northern Philippines, near Taiwan for military drills.
In addition, the Philippines Department of National Defense signed a deal with Israel’s Ministry of Defense and manufacturer Rafael Advanced Defense Systems for three batteries of the Spyder in 2019. The agreement worth 6.8 billion is part of the AFP modernization program’s Horizon 2. The first two missile batteries arrived in September 2023 while the third would be delivered this year.
The Spyder air defense missile system is designed to protect critical installations, land-based fixed assets, mobile platforms, and friendly forces from aerial threats such as combat aircraft, attack helicopters, drones, incoming missiles, guided munition, and rockets.
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