Philippines-US forces sink warship in China Sea military drills
The live-fire exercise was part of this year’s edition, of the annual US Philippines’ Balikatan’ military exercises, and the Philippine President, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. observed from a tower with US Ambassador to the Philippines, MaryKay Carlson seated beside, him as the much-touted High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS missed its target, which was a decommissioned warship.
The two HIMARS launchers fired six times at the former Philippine navy corvette, BRP Pangasinan, and missed each time; however, a barrage of ordnance from the US and Philippine, artillery and aircraft finally sank the vessel.
The Balikatan exercise, the largest even in terms of troop numbers with more than 17000 US and Filipino troops, is said to demonstrate further evidence of a decided shift of the Philippines, under the leadership of Marcos, toward its longtime ally, the United States.
Whereas, under former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Manila seemed to be inching closer toward Beijing, despite the Philippines being among the several countries, with a territorial dispute with China in the South China Sea, and China continuing to assert control over maritime territory claimed by the Philippines.
The location of the target vessel was monitored by Hermes 900 drone, and other redundant sensors, which transmitted the information to a combined intelligence, fusion effects center at Camp Aquino in Tarlac, which in turn, handed orders to the firing units.
Meanwhile, a narrator over a public address system, described the action down range, as the vessel was invisible over the horizon.
o simulate a real-world scenario in which troops have to sink an adversary ship, the first HIMARS rocket was targeted at the center, mast of the vessel to take out its communication system, while the rest of the five rounds were intended to sink it.
However, the first shot missed the target because, the vessel was drifting and “was not in the correct location,” as announced by US military personnel. The first shot missed the target vessel by approximately six to nine meters, while the five other shots hit different points.
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