Philippine soldiers will train on the U.S. military’s intermediate-range Typhon missile system during army drills next month, in preparation for the annual Salaknib Exercise between the U.S. and Philippine armies later this year.
Speaking to the press yesterday, Philippine Army spokesperson Col. Louie Dema-ala said that the training, which will involve members of the army’s artillery regiment and the U.S. Army Pacific’s First Multi-Domain Task Force, will focus on “orientation and familiarization” with the missile system and its capabilities, the Inquirer reported.
The U.S. military deployed the Typhon system to the northern Philippines in April of last year ahead of the Balikatan military exercises with Philippine troops, and then left it in place after the conclusion of the exercises in May. The deployment came amid growing tensions over parts of the hotly contested South China Sea, which have seen Philippine and Chinese coast guards clash over disputed features in the Spratly Islands.
The Philippines has since expressed an interest in acquiring the land-based Typhon missile system, which can fire Tomahawk missiles, which have a range of 1,600 kilometers, capable of striking targets in mainland China. It can also fire SM-6 missiles, which can strike air or sea targets within a shorter range of 200 kilometers, sufficient for covering most of the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.
Dema-ala said that the Typhon system, which is currently in an undisclosed location on Luzon island after being relocated by the U.S. military last week, will be used in the Combined Arms Training Exercise (CATEX) Katihan next month. This will form the preparation for the Salaknib Exercise, which will be held sometime later in the year. Salalknib, which means “shield” in Luzon’s Ilocano language, aims to strengthen interoperability between the U.S. and Philippine armies, and forms a complement to the larger annual Balikatan exercise, which features war games between the U.S. and the Philippines.
On January 23, Reuters reported that the U.S. military had moved its Typhon launchers from Laoag airfield in the Philippines to another location on the island of Luzon. It paraphrased a senior Philippine government as saying that the redeployment “would help determine where and how fast the missile battery could be moved to a new firing position” in order to increase its survivability during a potential conflict.
Since its deployment in April, the presence of the Typhon system on Philippine soil has been hotly contested by the Chinese government, which has described it variously as “an extremely irresponsible choice” that “undermines regional peace and stability.” Last week, after reports that the Typhon system had been relocated, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson called on Manila to “correct the wrongdoing as soon as possible, quickly pull out the Typhon missile system as publicly pledged, and stop going further down the wrong path.”
Philippine officials have consistently stated that the deployment is not aimed at any particular country, but that the Philippines has the right to deploy whatever assets it wishes within its territory.
“It’s an inherent right of every state to strengthen their defenses accordingly,” Col. Francel Margareth Padilla, a spokesperson for the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said on Friday. “How we will go about it is for us to freely do.”
The Typhon deployment is just one of a number of moves that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration has made to strengthen security cooperation with the U.S. in response to China’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea. This strong cooperation seems set to continue under President Donald Trump. Last week, newly appointed Secretary of State Marco Rubio reaffirmed to his Philippine counterpart Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo of Washington’s “ironclad” defense commitment to the Philippines and, as per Reuters, “discussed ways to advance security cooperation, expand economic ties and deepen regional cooperation.”