The Philippines may buy a US-delivered missile system amid China tensions

By Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio, A reporter

THE PHILIPPINES is open to receiving the United States’ Typhon midrange missile system, a congressman said Thursday, despite Chinese demands that the US withdraw it from Manila after it delivered it for joint tests earlier this year.

But there has been no offer from the Philippines to buy this missile system and it is not included in the list of military wishes of the defense department that will be financed by the waiting money in the national budget of 2025, Agusan del Norte Rep. Jose “Joboy” S. Aquino II told the House of Representatives.

“There is none,” he said in response to a question from Party-list Rep. Arlene D. Brosas whether there is a “proposal.” “Well, maybe when the time comes, we hope to do so,” he said in mixed English and Filipino.

Congress, which sponsored the budget for this branch next year, said it will release P25 billion of its unplanned allocation to acquire property. This fund is on top of the P50 billion that the government has allocated for the development of the military next year.

The agency plans to use the pending funds to acquire South Korean-made FA-50 light military jets and upgrades. It may also buy frigates and upgrade the weapons systems of the Philippine Navy, while improving cybersecurity and electronic warfare capabilities, Mr. Aquino. He did not say how many.

The US has no plans to scrap the intermediate-range missile system and is exploring the possibility of its use in regional conflicts, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The Typhon system, which can be armed with cruise missiles capable of striking Chinese targets, was brought up for joint exercises earlier this year, both countries said at the time, but remains in place.

The Southeast Asian archipelago, Taiwan’s neighbor to the South, is an important part of the US strategy in Asia and could be an important place for the military to help Taipei in the event of a Chinese attack.

China and Russia condemned the move – the first deployment of the system in the Indo-Pacific – and accused Washington of fueling an arms race.

The deployment, some details of which have not been reported before, comes as China and the US, which cooperates with the US Defense Associated, clash over parts of the tense South China Sea.

Recent months have brought a series of sea-to-air confrontations in the strategic waterway.

Philippine officials said the Philippine and American forces continued to train with the missile system in northern Luzon, which faces the South China Sea and is close to the Taiwan Strait, and they were not aware of any immediate plans to return it, even though the joint exercises are ending. this month.

Philippine military spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala told Reuters on Wednesday that the training was ongoing, and it was up to the United States Army Pacific (USARPAC) to decide how long the missile program would last.

The Philippine military had said the Typhoon could stay beyond September with soldiers trained with it as recently as last week, engaging in “discussions about employing the system, with a focus on mobilizing the host nation’s support,” according to a USARPAC public affairs officer.

A Philippine government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, and another person familiar with the matter said the US and the Philippines were exploring the possibility of using the system there in the event of a conflict.

A government official said the Typhon – a modular system, intended to move and be transported as needed – was in the Philippines to “test the possibility of sending it to the country, so that when the need arises, it can be easily installed here.”

Office of the President of the Philippines Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. did not respond to a request for comment.

‘SLEEPING NIGHT’
The US military flew the Typhoon, which can launch missiles consisting of SM-6 missiles and Tomahawks with a range of more than 1,600 kilometers (994 miles), to the Philippines in April in what it called a “historic first” and a “significant step in our country. in cooperation with the Philippines.”

A book by the US Congressional Research Service, a policy center of the US Congress, published at the time said that “it is not known whether this temporary deployment may end up being permanent.”

In July, military spokesman Louie Dema-ala confirmed that a Typhoon missile had landed in the northern Philippine islands and said there was no specific date as to “when it will be withdrawn,” correcting an earlier statement that it would leave. in September.

A satellite image taken on Wednesday by Planet Labs, a commercial satellite company, and reviewed by Reuters showed the typhoon at Laoag International Airport, Ilocos Norte province.

Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, who analyzed the images, said the program is still in place.

A government official who spoke to Reuters said there were no plans to withdraw it.

“In the event that it will be released, it is because the purpose has been achieved and it may be returned (returned) after all the repairs have been completed even if the construction has been done,” said the official, adding that there is a strategic advantage. The Philippines finally plans to block China.

“We want to give them sleepless nights.”

SHIP’S WEAPONS
The US has been accumulating various anti-ship weapons in Asia, as Washington tries to catch up quickly in the Indo-Pacific missile race in which China is leading, Reuters reports.

Although the US military has declined to say how many will be deployed to the Indo-Pacific region, more than 800 SM-6 cruise missiles are expected to be purchased over the next five years, according to government documents detailing military purchases. Several thousand Tomahawks are already in the US, the documents showed.

China has criticized the deployment of the Typhoon several times, including in May when Wu Qian, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Defense, said Manila and Washington posed “great risks of war to the region.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin in June cited the deployment when he announced his country would resume production of medium- and short-range nuclear-capable missiles.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo in July assured his Chinese counterpart that the presence of missile systems in his country is not a threat to China and will not destabilize the region.

China has completely ended the war on at least three of the several islands it built in the South China Sea, which it often says in full despite a controversial resolution in 2016 that supported the Philippines, arming it with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles, the US said. .

China says its military bases in the Spratly Islands are for defense only, and that it can do what it likes in its territory. – with Reuters