THE commander of the US Marine Corps in the Pacific said Thursday the five Philippine military camps that the US will gain access to through the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement will boost the country’s territorial defense amid a worsening territorial dispute with China over the West Philippine Sea.
“We’re still figuring out exactly what we want to do to improve some of these former bases to better support the territorial defense objectives of the Philippines,” said Lt. Gen. John Toolan, commander of the US Marine Forces in the Pacific and director of the US-Balikatan joint military exercises.
The five major camps are Antonio Bautista Air Base in Puerto Princesa City, home of the Western Command facing the West Philippine Sea; the Basa Air Base in Floridablanca, Pampanga and Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, also close to the WPS; Lumbia Air Base in Cagayan de Oro in Mindanao; and the Mactan-Benito Ebuen Air Base in Cebu.
Toolan said the exercises also underscore the implementation, effectiveness and efficiency of a “higher level of command and control” in handling and manipulating technological warfare tactics and operations.
“What you saw here today are small unit leaders working very closely together in operating on Himars [High Mobility Artillery Rocket System], they are operating armored vehicles and amphibious assault vehicles. But at the higher level, we’ve been working together to try and tie the command and control of forces throughout the entire Philippines a little better, setting up network and making them work, and I think we made a lot of progress there,” Toolan told reporters.
PH-Balikatan co-exercise director Vice Admiral Alexander Lopez, also Western Command commander, said the Himars could be deployed anywhere in the country not only on the western side of the country since the rocket systems are highly mobile.
“We can deploy the Himars in any part of the Philippines…against any threat,” Lopez said.
The Himars is similar to the P6.5-billion Shore-Based Missile Systems that were scrapped from the Armed Forces’ modernization program.
Toolan explained that the Himars has a reach of 300 kilometers and can be launched from land or sea.
“The Himars has also the capability that we’re going to test—to shoot from the deck of a ship,” he said.
Toolan said the US Armed Forces is always open to share technology with allies such as the Philippines if needed.
Lopez said the Philippines needs this kind of defensive capability, and that its acquisition should not be delayed.
Asked if the US is open to deploying the Himars in all the 5 bases set by Edca, Toolan said, “Not necessarily, but obviously the mobility of the Himars you could use anywhere.”
“This is something new, actually, in the procurement system and even our items for consideration. I know the authorities would like to have a good look at it… We have seen the capability, highly mobile, and lethal. So I think that’s one of the capability that we want to have,” Lopez said.
During the live-fire exercise, Lopez said Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said they were impressed by the Himars’ capability.
Glowing projectiles lit up the sky from the advanced US long-range missile system on Thursday.
The Himars was the star of a simulated assault exercise by 5,500 US and Philippine soldiers, unleashing six missiles at distant targets from a dry riverbed three hours’ drive from Manila.
US Marine Cobra attack helicopters and Philippine S211 jets also buzzed over the Crow Valley training range as Filipino and US troops acted out the capture of imaginary enemy-held territory.
The exercises were staged in the shadow of a festering dispute between the poorly equipped US ally and regional giant China over islands, reefs and waters in the resource-rich South China Sea.
“The truth of the matter is we are allies and as allies, we need to work together,” Toolan said, referring to the missile system.
“I think we will be more than happy to share,” he said when asked if the US would deploy Himars to the Philippines in the case of armed conflict over the South China Sea.
China claims most of the South China Sea, even waters and rocks close to the coasts of several neighbors that overlap with their claims.
Beijing has reclaimed several reefs claimed by Manila and built structures on them that the Philippines alleges were designed for military use—a charge China denies.
Although the United States has not taken a stand on the conflicting claims to the South China Sea, it has opposed China’s efforts to claim the waters and has stressed freedom of navigation in the vital sea lane.
Toolan said the two-week maneuvers displayed the capability of both armies to deploy rapidly across the Asian archipelago.
The truck-mounted missile system had been flown aboard a giant military transport plane to an airport near the Crow Valley firing range earlier in the day from the western Philippine island of Palawan.
The Philippines has been improving its defense ties with the United States to help upgrade its capability to defend its territory.
The Philippines has allowed American forces to rotate through five Philippine bases including one on Palawan and another in the north, both close to the South China Sea. With AFP
