Two Lockheed Martin F-35C Lightning II flew over South China Sea near in this province as part of the Marine Aviation Support Activity (MASA), an annual drills participated by 2,711 personnel and 43 air assets from both long-time ally countries different military bases in Cagayan, Tarlac, Palawan, Zambales, and Cebu.
At the Subic International Airport, the former US naval base located north of Manila, US marines showed to the media loading of a thousand-pound laser guided bombs to five F/A-18 Hornets tasks to provide air support to the annual exercises. The hornets, along with other air assets of the Philippine Marines, would supposedly launch a mock attack against a Chinese built vessel 12 nautical miles away from San Antonio, a town close to contented South China Sea but was hampered by bad weather.
The target was the former BRP Lake Caliraya, a tanker donated by the then Philippine National Oil Corporation to the Philippine Navy in 2014 and decommissioned in 2020.
The 2016 landmark international tribunal ruling was a result of the arbitration case filed by the administration of the late President Benigno Aquino III against China and came just days after Duterte succeeded him in office.
China claims nearly the entire South China Sea, including waters within the exclusive economic zones of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan. While Indonesia does not regard itself as a party to the South China Sea dispute, Beijing claims historic rights to parts of that sea overlapping Indonesia’s EEZ as well.
However, speaking with reporters, 2Lt. Madison Walls, spokesperson for US Marines Corp 3rd Aircraft Wing, said the four Hornets will be integrating with other aircrafts and platforms including with the Philippine assets to conduct exercise, coordination of fires with Filipino and American assets.
“This year’s drills are not targeted to specific concerns in the region. This is to strengthen our partnership with our allies,” Walls told reporters.
Capt. Richard Winter of the US 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, said they are integrating with Filipino assets by practicing coordination for command and control.
“Our goal is to reinforce our alliance with the Philippines and our partners in the Indo-Pacific region,” he said.
The Philippines and US have an existing Mutual Defense Treaty that was signed by both countries in 1951. It binds the two allies to aid each other in times if a foreign power attacks either country, and would allow the U.S. to use former American naval and air bases in the Philippines, a former American colony.
All pictures by author.