Joint US-Philippine military drill sinks China-made vessel
THE MILITARIES of the Philippines and the United States sank a decommissioned China-made tanker in waters off Laoag City in northern Luzon with an anti-ship cruise missile, as part of their maritime strike drills involving air, land, and naval assets on Wednesday.
In a statement released on Thursday, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said the activity, which was part of the two forces’ Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) exercises, is “a testament to the military’s commitment to its vision of becoming a world-class armed forces, a source of national pride.”
For the activity, the AFP deployed the Philippine Navy’s BRP Jose Rizal (FF-150) and two Philippine Air Force jets.
It also deployed anti-ship missiles and a fast attack interdiction craft armed with Spike missiles to target the decommissioned BRP Lake Caliraya, which was donated by the Philippine National Oil Corporation to the Navy in 2014.
The ship, which represented an enemy force targeting Philippine territory, was decommissioned in 2020 due to maintenance issues.
“This exercise was about the collective capability of our combined fires networks and increasing interoperability to sense and shoot targets from a variety of Philippine, US and Australian land, sea and air platforms,” Marine Col. Douglas Krugman, the US director of the Balikatan’s combined coordination center, said in a separate release.
US and the Philippine forces also sank a decommissioned ship last year but not with an anti-ship missile.
Laoag City is about 400 kilometers south of Taiwan, a US ally that China claims as a renegade province.
The Balikatan drills started on April 22 and will end on May 10. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza
