U.S. Missile Battery to Remain in the Philippines

November 2024

A battery of U.S. ground-launched missiles first deployed in the Philippines in April to participate in a military exercise will remain there indefinitely, U.S. and Philippine officials said.

The commander of U.S. Army Pacific, Gen. Charles Flynn, said in an interview with Defense News on Oct. 14 that the battery will remain in the Philippines “for the time being.” Flynn’s remark confirms prior statements made Sept. 25 by anonymous Philippine officials to the Associated Press that the battery may remain until next April, when the United States and the Philippines are scheduled to conduct annual joint military exercises.

The medium-range missile battery is equipped to launch Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles, with an estimated range of more than 1,600 kilometers, and the multipurpose Standard Missile-6. The ground-launched variant of the Tomahawk would have violated the now-defunct 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. (See ACT, May 2024.)

In the interview, Flynn said the Philippines had requested the continued presence of the missile battery. The state-run Philippine News Agency reported on Sept. 26 that Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, wanted the missile battery to stay “forever” and that the military is interested in purchasing its own medium-range missile battery and other similar missile systems. The Philippine military took delivery of the Indian BrahMos ground-launched anti-ship cruise missile in April. That missile has an estimated range of up to 900 kilometers.

The decision comes after a summer of tense confrontations between Philippine and Chinese naval forces in the South China Sea, where the two countries have overlapping maritime and territorial claims. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Oct. 11 that China “firmly opposes” the deployment of the missile system in the Asia-Pacific region.—XIAODON LIANG