PH Navy to conduct live fire exercise in Balikatan 2025 with US

The Philippine Navy announced Tuesday that it will participate in a live fire exercise involving major missile systems in the Balikatan drills this April with the United States.

Philippine Navy chief Vice Admiral Jose Ma. Ambrosio Ezpeleta said their participation in the drills will help improve their interoperability as well as their collective response to regional security challenges amid emerging threats.

“We are equally excited to participate in the  upcoming Balikatan exercises this April, a key  opportunity to collaborate with our allied forces,” he said.

“The exercise will include multilateral maritime exercises,  wherein the Philippine Navy will be part of the maritime strike component and launch the C-star surface to surface, Spike NLOS, and Mistral surface to air missiles from our Navy assets,” he added.

According to the Philippine Navy, the C-Star missile system is tailored for targeting enemy vessels and can be mounted on various warships.

C-Star missiles can strike enemy ships from both long and short distances, and travel at ultra-low sea-skimming altitudes and high-subsonic speed with its high-capacity turbojet engine.

The Spike non-line-of-sight (NLOS) missile system is equipped with advanced electro-optical and infrared sensors and offers day and night operational capabilities, the Philippine Navy said.

According to the Navy, Spike NLOS has a range of up to 30 kilometers (approximately 18.6 miles). This allows operators to engage targets with pinpoint accuracy from stand-off distances.

Meanwhile, the Mistral 3 surface to air missiles have 90mm high-explosive warheads, a range of more than three nautical miles and speed of Mach 2.7. 

The Mistral 3 is part of the primary weapons of the recently acquired Jose Rizal-class multi-mission capable frigates that bolster their defensive capability against hostile aircraft.

Earlier, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said the Balikatan or the annual joint military exercise between the Philippines and the United States will hold a simulation of a full battle in 2025.

“I was with (President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.) yesterday and informed him that today would be the closing ceremonies of the Balikatan and he extends his congratulations to both armed forces and all those who participated in the successful conduct of this year's exercise,” he said.

“He looks forward to next year's exercise which will be, I believe, a full battle simulation, which will put to the test the combined capabilities in the most realistic of scenarios possible with safety in mind," he added. —RF, GMA Integrated News