American, Filipino troops sink mock enemy ship
BY VICTOR REYES and JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR
PHILIPPINE and US armed forces yesterday neutralized an “adversary’s force” using an array of naval, ground, and air assets during a ship-sinking exercise off San Antonio in Zambales, which faces the disputed Scarborough Shoal that is currently under China’s control.
The exercise, witnessed by President Marcos Jr., was held as part of the “Balikatan,” a huge-scale exercise between the American and Philippine soldiers, which started on April 11 and is due to end on Friday.
The President, who was joined by US Ambassador MaryKay Carlson, Acting Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez, and National Security Adviser Eduardo Año, among others, is due to meet with US President Joe Biden in Washington next week and plans to discuss treaties and other agreements with the US, which he said must evolve in the face of “heating up tensions.”
Among the agreements he will discuss with Biden, Marcos said on Monday, are the Mutual Defense Treaty and the Visiting Forces Agreement which provides legal cover to the military exercises, including the Balikatan.
China has criticized the military exercises which come against the backdrop of what the Philippines calls “aggressive” Chinese actions in the West Philippine Sea in the South China Sea.
It has also said the US-Philippines alliance must not interfere in sea disputes or harm China’s territorial sovereignty and security interests. The Philippines and United States say their activities are for defense purposes only.
The exercise area is about 100 nautical miles from Scarborough Shoal, also known as Bajo de Masinloc. China gained control of the shoal in 2012 after a standoff with Philippine government vessels.
It was the first time the annual Balikatan exercises featured live fire drills at sea. The Balikatan is meant to improve the interoperability of the two sides to respond to various threats, including external aggression and calamities.
Col. Michael Logico, executive agent of the Balikatan on the Philippine side, was asked what China may say with the conduct of the “maritime and coastal defense” exercise in Zambales. I cannot speak for them,” he replied.
“But we are exercising inside of our territorial waters and inside of our territorial airspace and that is our inherent and invaluable right to exercise within our territory. We do not anticipate what will be their action,” he said.
Logico said the message that the Philippine and US armed forces would like to send is that their “alliance is alive.”
Logico also said the two sides conducted the first ever sinking exercise under Balikatan “because we want to avoid stillness of the exercise and we also feel the need to challenge ourselves and be able to operate at a different level or a different complexity of the exercise.”
Col. Jackson Doan, US military senior representative for Balikatan 2023, said the exercise is significant in terms of the dynamic interaction between the Philippine and US forces and the testing and incorporating of new techniques and procedures within the Philippines.
“This combined joint live fire exercise really encompasses the cementing of the bond in the relationship between the US and the Filipino country. It really does take to the fact that ‘shoulder-to-shoulder’ is a term, but in reality, it’s the way that we live,” he said.
This year’s war games, with 17,000 troops and the biggest edition yet, is a sign of rekindled ties between the defense treaty partners after a period of strain under the previous, anti-US president, Rodrigo Duterte.
During the ship-sinking exercise, a Philippine Navy frigate, BRP Jose Rizal, fired guns at the notional enemy, a decommissioned Philippine Navy corvette, ex-BRP Pangasinan or Patrol Ship 31, about 12 nautical miles from San Antonio, home to the Naval Education, Training and Doctrine Command.
This was followed by a several rounds of rockets fired by the ground-based High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). Incidentally, none of the rockets fired by the US weapon hit the target due to a few factors.
The newly-acquired 155 mm self-propelled howitzers then fired a number of artillery rounds, successfully hitting “secondary targets” near the former Navy ship.
This was followed by air assets from both sides, including the Cobra helicopters, Super Tucano light attack aircraft and the FA-50 fighter aircraft of the Philippine Air Force and the F-16 and F-35 aircraft of the US Air Force.
Logico said the FA-50 aircraft delivered air-to-ground rockets while the US F-16 aircraft dropped a 500-pounder bomb on the target.
SHIP SINKS
The ship sank at around 2:55 p.m. with the US F-35 multi-role combat aircraft delivering the final blow. “F-35 delivered (the final salvo), delivering a laser-guided bomb,” said Logico.
But he said it was unfair to give all the credit to the F-35, noting there were a lot of naval and air assets of the US and Philippine armed forces that contributed to the sinking of BRP Pangasinan.
Logico said a US C-130 gunship was also supposed to take part in the ship sinking exercise.
“It failed to make it to the C-130… If they (previous assets) failed to finish off (the ship), we have C-130 gunship (waiting). There were really a lot of opportunities to sink the ship,” said Logico.
Marcos arrived at the NETDC headquarters at around 9 a.m., more than two hours after BRP Jose Rizal began the naval gunfire.
“The President was there for the HIMARS, he really wanted to see the HIMARS but since none of the HIMARS hit, he wanted to stay longer to see the aviation assets. He saw it and he was satisfied,” said Logico.
The President left the area around noon and was not able to see the fighter aircraft delivering the final blow and the subsequent sinking of the old ship.
“His real plan was really to stay for the HIMARs and then leave but when he saw it, he got interested and also stayed for the aviation (part of the exercise)
“He was satisfied and then we’re able explain to him the entire process of command and control of the two joint task forces (of US and Philippines),” he said, adding the President was “very happy” and “had a deeper appreciation of the exercise.”
Marcos boarded and inspected a HIMARS cab displayed at the San Antonio naval base before observing the exercise through binoculars and on a TV screen.
He smiled the moment the first missile was fired, leaving a trail of smoke in the sky, part of a coordinated coastal, inland artillery bombardment and airstrike that obliterated the mock enemy target.
‘AREA WEAPON’
On the HIMARS not hitting the target, Logico said they have doubts right from the start that the weapon system will hit the target because “it is really a ground-based, an area weapon, not a precision weapon.”
Logico said there were other factors. “ First factor was that ex PS-31 was not anchored because it (exercise area) is too deep, 6,000 feet, so it was drifting,” he said.
Logico said the first few rounds were “registering fire” meant to serve as reference for adjustment for succeeding rounds to be fired.
“But the problem was that in between the first and the succeeding rounds, there were several interlopers… an air and boat interloper, causing the delay. So we have to re-compute again and because it was drifting, they had a hard time hitting PS-31,” said Logico.
The air and boat interlopers entered the “opera box” or exercise area, prompting authorities to push them out of the area.
“Safety is always a primary consideration when we conduct the exercise. Any interloper or any intrusion into the exercise that will endanger the lives of people, whether its intentional or accidental, is our primary consideration so as a general SOP (standard operating procedure) we have to (cease) the fires every time there is interloper,” said Logico.
Asked if the air interloper was from China, Logico said: “I cannot verify that yet right now, it will be up the sensors to verify that.” — With Reuters
