Missiles, rockets to be fired at Balikatan

MANILA, Philippines - For the first time, mobile rocket and missile platforms will be deployed during this year’s Balikatan, a joint military training exercise of the Philippines and the United States amid rising tensions over China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea.

The mobile rocket and missile platforms will be deployed in a live-fire drill to be held at the Crow Valley gunnery range in Tarlac. The joint war games will be held from April 4 to 16.

Aside from the usual air and armored assets, the HIMARS or M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System will be used in the live-fire phase of the joint military training, according to Capt. Celeste Frank Sayson, spokesman for Balikatan 2016.

HIMARS is a light multiple rocket and missile launcher mounted on a standard army medium tactical vehicle truck frame. It has a maximum range of 300 kilometers. The platform was tested back in the US in 1998 prior to its actual deployment in 2005.

The mobile rocket and missile platform can fire six rockets or one MGM-140 ATACMs missile. It can also be moved from one place to another in a particular area of engagement and can even be loaded on a C-130 transport for deployment to other areas.

“We expect the arrival of these US military assets to include HIMARS by the end of this month in Subic Bay,” Sayson said.

He also said that after the live fire drill in Crow Valley, the mobile platforms would be transported to Palawan.

The Antonio Bautista Air Base in Puerto Princesa City in Palawan is one of five facilities of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) that US troops can use on a rotation basis.

The other four facilities are Base Air Base in Pampanga, the Army jungle training camp at Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, Lumbia Air Base in Cagayan de Oro City and Mactan-Benito Eduben Air Base in Cebu.