No waste of funds due to non-firing of missile --- PN chief
Published May 19, 2023 05:28 am
SAN ANTONIO, Zambales— No public resources were wasted during the non-firing of the supposed air missile test off the coast of Zambales within the West Philippine Sea on Friday, May 19.
It was supposed to be the main event of the Philippine Navy's showcasing of its assets' capability on Friday, May 19, but due to "technical glitch," the test firing of surface-to-air missile against a drone as a mock target did not push through.
It was considered a big event as President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. came to witnees it aboard the viewing ship, BRP Davao Del Sur.
"Hindi naman. Wala, wala," Vice Admiral Toribio Adaci, Philippine Navy Flag Officer-in-Command, said in a media interview when asked if any government resources was put to waste due to the glitch.
Philippine Navy showcases BRP Antonio Luna's (FF151) capability through deploying its bullfighter chaffs and decoy during a capability demonstration off San Antonio, Zambales on May 19, 2023. (Ali Vicoy)
The Navy, he said, has acquired the Mistral 3 surface-to-air missile for P30 million. It is a French infrared homing short range air defense system. "If you recall we have four events, this morning we had the firing of the decoys and chaffs, we had the firing of the exercise torpedo from the anti-submarine helicopter, we also have the speed run of fast boats we got from Israel, and the fourth exercise should have been the testing of the surface-to-air missile," Adaci said. He clarified that the Navy's system is at a "very good condition" despite the non-firing of the missile. "Our system is is very good condition, it's just that our target, our drone had a techinical glitch and hindi nakalipad yung drone natin (our drone was not able to take off) which should be coming from Zambales but because of the technical problem, hindi siya naka-take off (it was not able to take off)," Adaci said. Adaci stressed that despite the non-firing of the missile during the event, the same incident will not happen in case a real-life situations. "I mean, our system is okay yun lang yung target hindi nagpakita. Parang may baril tayo pero walang kalaban. Hindi nagpakita yung kalaban so we had nothing to target (it's just that our target did not show up. We had a gun but we had no enemy. Our enemy did not show up, so we had nothing to target)," Adaci said. The Navy official said he told the President they will still push through with the firing of the missile in the next few weeks, after clearing out what went wrong with the drone's service provider. "We told him that we will proceed with the sub firing and he ask also kung within the day, sabi ko in the next few weeks because we have to talk with the providers of the target," he said. The drone was supposed to come from San Miguel, Zambales.
Philippine Navy showcases BRP Antonio Luna's (FF151) capability through deploying its bullfighter chaffs and decoy during a capability demonstration off San Antonio, Zambales on May 19, 2023. (Ali Vicoy)
The Navy, he said, has acquired the Mistral 3 surface-to-air missile for P30 million. It is a French infrared homing short range air defense system. "If you recall we have four events, this morning we had the firing of the decoys and chaffs, we had the firing of the exercise torpedo from the anti-submarine helicopter, we also have the speed run of fast boats we got from Israel, and the fourth exercise should have been the testing of the surface-to-air missile," Adaci said. He clarified that the Navy's system is at a "very good condition" despite the non-firing of the missile. "Our system is is very good condition, it's just that our target, our drone had a techinical glitch and hindi nakalipad yung drone natin (our drone was not able to take off) which should be coming from Zambales but because of the technical problem, hindi siya naka-take off (it was not able to take off)," Adaci said. Adaci stressed that despite the non-firing of the missile during the event, the same incident will not happen in case a real-life situations. "I mean, our system is okay yun lang yung target hindi nagpakita. Parang may baril tayo pero walang kalaban. Hindi nagpakita yung kalaban so we had nothing to target (it's just that our target did not show up. We had a gun but we had no enemy. Our enemy did not show up, so we had nothing to target)," Adaci said. The Navy official said he told the President they will still push through with the firing of the missile in the next few weeks, after clearing out what went wrong with the drone's service provider. "We told him that we will proceed with the sub firing and he ask also kung within the day, sabi ko in the next few weeks because we have to talk with the providers of the target," he said. The drone was supposed to come from San Miguel, Zambales.