The highly anticipated combined joint littoral live fire exercise between the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the United States Armed Forces finally happened in San Antonio, Zambales on Wednesday, April 26, as part of the main event of the Exercise Balikatan 2023.
 


(President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. attends the combined joint littoral live fire exercise of Exercise Balikatan 2023 in San Antonio, Zambales on April 26, 2023. Photo by Noel Pabalate / MANILA BULLETIN)

The live fire exercise was highlighted by the sinking exercise (SINKEX) where 1,400 Filipino and American marines, soldiers, sailors, and airmen fired rockets, artilleries, and other weapons to sink the former BRP Pangasinan, a World War II-era corvette.

The drill was aimed at showcasing the interoperability of Filipino and American troops in conducting maritime and coastal defense operations.
 
“This training increased the exercise’s realism and complexity, a key priority shared between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the US military,” said Lt. Gen. William Jurney, commander of US Marine Corps Pacific and US director for the exercise.

This is what transpired during the main event of the 38^th iteration of Balikatan which was witnessed by the Commander in Chief, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., along with acting Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., AFP Chief Gen. Andres Centino, National Security Adviser Eduardo Año, Philippine Army Chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., Philippine Navy Chief Vice Admiral Toribio Adaci Jr., and Philippine Air Force Chief Lt. Gen. Stephen Parreño among others.

SINKEX

The sinking exercise began around 9 a.m. when the US Armed Forces fired the first round of volley of its High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), which contained six rocket fires. HIMARS, an American rocket system, has been in service since 2010. It is currently being employed in the Ukrainian war and has seen service in the Afghanistan War, Syrian Civil War, and Iraq War.
 

(BRP Pangasinan as monitored by a combined intelligence fusion effects center. Courtesy of RTVM livestream)

The rocket fires were aimed at BRP Pangasinan, which was positioned at 12 nautical miles from the shoreline of San Antonio, near the West Philippine Sea (WPS). The former Philippine Navy corvette, which was decommissioned in 2021, represented an enemy force approaching the Philippine territory by sea.

The location of the ship was monitored by Hermes 900, a drone used for intelligence gathering, and other redundant sensors which transmitted the information to a combined intelligence fusion effects center (CIFEC) at Camp Aquino in Tarlac. The intelligence center provided a common operational picture of the entire area and coordination between the different firing units are processed in that particular location. The orders were also handed to the firing units through the CIFEC.

Simulating a real-world scenario where troops have to take out an adversary ship, the first rocket fire was aimed at the center mast of BRP Pangasinan to take away its communication systems while the remaining five shots were supposed to sink it.

However, the first shot missed the target since the vessel “is drifting so it was not in the correct location,” a US military personnel announced. The first shot was located at approximately six to nine meters away from the vessel while the five other shots hit different points.

Delay

A second set of HIMARS rockets were then prepared for firing as the CIFEC calculated the new position of BRP Pangasinan. But an aerial interloper was detected by the radars of the AFP and US Armed Forces which delayed the exercise for a few minutes.

(HIMARS rockets are fired during the combined joint littoral live fire exercise of Exercise Balikatan 2023 in San Antonio, Zambales on April 26, 2023. Photo by Noel Pabalate / MANILA BULLETIN)

“The range is cold because of safety issue, because of an aerial interloper that was reported to have entered the opera box [operational box]. We are waiting for the range to clear. The interloper was a private unregistered single craft aircraft in the middle of the ocean,” a US military personnel announced.

Prior to the exercise, picket vessels from the Philippine Navy and Philippine Coast Guard were deployed to secure the operational area. These vessels were to enforce the Notice to Mariners issued weeks before the Balikatan to prevent any commercial and local fishing vessel from passing through the operational area.

Once the interloper was escorted out of the operational area, the second volley of HIMARS rockets were fired and the exercise went smoothly.

(Artillery pieces are fired during the combined joint littoral live fire exercise in San Antonio, Zambales on April 26, 2023. Photo by Noel Pabalate / MANILA BULLETIN)

It was followed by artillery fires from the Philippine Army’s Autonomous Truck Mounted Howitzer System (ATMOS), which are 155 mm self-propelled howitzers, as well as 105mm howitzers from the Philippine Marine Corps, and other US artilleries.

The artillery pieces were aimed at a much nearer secondary target called “killer tomato,” which are a bunch of drums tied with a bamboo, located 4.7 nautical miles away from San Antonio town’s shoreline.

After the artillery firing, the AFP and US Armed Forces utilized aerial assets in the capability demonstration exercise.

Among the assets used by both countries were Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, FA-50 Golden Eagle fighter attack aircraft, F-16 Fighting Falcons multirole fighter aircraft, F-35B Joint Strike Fighters aircraft, and AC-130 Spectre gunship.

“This significant activity demonstrated new potential and revitalized the strength of our militaries while we continuously forge an ironclad alliance,” said Maj Gen. Marvin Licudine, commander of AFP Education, Training, and Doctrine Command and Philippines exercise director for Balikatan.