American and Filipino security officials have agreed to keep a US mid-range missile system in the northern Philippines indefinitely to boost deterrence despite China’s expressions of alarm, two Philippine officials said on Wednesday.
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The US Army transported the Typhon missile system, a land-based weapon that can fire the Standard Missile-6 and the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, to the northern Philippines as part of combat exercises in April with Philippine troops and to test its deplorability aboard an Air Force aircraft.
Tomahawk missiles can travel over 1,000 miles (1,600km), which places China within their target range. Officials are considering keeping the missile system in the northern Philippines up to April next year, when US and Philippine forces are scheduled to hold their annual Balikatan – Tagalog for “shoulder to shoulder” – large-scale combat exercises, he said.
The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the sensitive US missile deployment publicly. There was no immediate comment from US officials.
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