The Philippines is not only defying China’s calls to remove the US-made Typhon missile system from its shores but is also strengthening its commitment to the platform by featuring it in a major arms training exercise next month, according to Army Chief Lieutenant General Roy Galido.
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During a press conference on Monday, Galido said the drills, the second iteration of the Combined Arms Training Exercise (Catex), are designed to test the military’s ability to respond to a national crisis caused by an “external threat”.
Galido declined to name the external threat but emphasised that the Catex, which will take place from March 3-12, would enforce the Philippines’ new Comprehensive Archipelagic Defence Concept that “looks at all angles that threaten the interests and sovereignty of our country”.
This year’s exercise will involve around 6,000 troops and, for the first time, will take place not only on the island of Luzon in the northern Philippines but also in the central Visayas and southern Mindanao.
Galido said the areas were chosen because large-scale mobilisations involving ground forces, tanks and artillery can occur there without disrupting local communities. He said such coordinated movements were needed due to the archipelagic concept’s focus on territorial defence.
While the Catex will include some live-fire exercises, Galido noted that the Typhon would not be included among them as the army was still in the process of “appreciating the system and being able to understand how to utilise it in our defence concept”.
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“You have to understand how to sustain it … how to use it in a complicated situation,” he added.