Typhon system was deployed only for Balikatan exercises — AFP
A powerful mid-range missile system that Washington deployed to the Philippines in April for the Balikatan joint military exercises will be returned to the United States in September, a Philippine military spokesman told Kyodo News.
Army Col. Louie Dema-ala confirmed the Typhon missile system will be returned to the US but gave no reason as to why Washington stopped the deployment.
The ground-based mid-range capability (MRC) that could launch Tomahawk and SM-6 missiles was also used for a simulated firing drill during a bilateral exercise in the South China Sea in May.
“There’s currently no plans to station any US forces in the Philippines…to include the MRC,” said a senior US defense official who asked not to be named.
The deployment of the Typhon missile system was called out by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who called for the resumption of the production of intermediate-range missiles that were banned under a now-scrapped treaty with the US.
“Today, it is known that the United States not only produces these missile systems but has already brought them to Europe for exercises, to Denmark.
Quite recently, it was announced that they are in the Philippines,” Putin said during a televised address on Friday.
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty (INF), signed by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and US President Ronald Reagan in 1988, previously banned ground-based nuclear and conventional missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers (310-3,410 miles).
The US withdrew from the treaty in 2019. The Typhon missile system would have been banned under the INF.
“We need to start production of these strike systems and then, based on the actual situation, make decisions about where — if necessary to ensure our safety — to place them,” Putin said.
Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun, in a meeting with US Defense chief Lloyd Austin in Singapore in May, said the missile system severely threatens security in the Asia region and undermines regional peace and stability.
Senator Aquilino Pimentel III, for his part, said the Philippines should not have allowed the deployment of missile systems by foreign military forces.
“The launch buttons for these foreign-owned and -controlled missile systems are not within our control; hence, these foreigners decide when they want to turn the Philippines into a battlefield. It will be the Philippines which will be the battleground, not their own country/countries,” Pimentel said in a Viber message.
Bayan Muna’s Carlos Zarate warned the “US satellite-like foreign policy” under President Marcos “has contributed to bringing the world to the brink of a renewed nuclear arms race.”
“We demand that the administration abide by the constitutional edicts of pursuing an independent foreign policy and making the Philippines free of nuclear arms and foreign troops,” Zarate said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the Armed Forces of the Philippines said it is taking seriously Senator Imee Marcos’s claim that Chinese hypersonic missiles are pointed at 25 targets within the Philippines as it seeks to gather more information on the supposed threat.
“Regarding Senator Imee Marcos’s statement about 25 areas potentially targeted by China’s hypersonic missiles due to EDCA (Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement) sites and the West Philippine Sea scenario, the AFP takes such concerns seriously,” AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Padilla said.
“We are ready to coordinate with Senator Marcos to obtain details and take appropriate actions to ensure our nation’s security,” she added.
The Department of National Defense said it “has no basis for a comment or reaction to Sen. Marcos’ video, because we have not seen nor read the plans that she referred to.”
Senator Marcos said EDCA sites in Batanes, Subic, and Ilocos are the initial targets, but did not disclose where she got her information.
“From what we read, there are Brahmos missiles in Batanes and Subic. So those two will be prioritized along with Ilocos because there are live-fire military exercises. It’s really scary,” the senator said. With Kyodo News