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Farewell, BRP Miguel Malvar: AFP to sink decommissioned ship in Balikatan missile exercise
Farewell, BRP Miguel Malvar: AFP to sink decommissioned ship in Balikatan missile exercise
At A Glance
- The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) plans to sink the decommissioned warship BRP Miguel Malvar (PS19) as part of a maritime strike exercise during the Balikatan Exercises with the United States in San Antonio, Zambales.
- The exercise, scheduled for May 5, aims to test the precision and firepower of military assets from both countries.
- The BRP Miguel Malvar, the Philippine Navy's most decorated warship, will be targeted about 30 to 40 nautical miles off the coast of Zambales in the West Philippine Sea.
- Philippine assets involved include FA-50 fighter aircraft, A-29 Super Tucanos, the Spike NLOS missile, and the C-STAR anti-ship cruise missile.
- The U.S. will contribute F-16 and F-18 fighter jets, and B-1B bomber aircraft.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) will use as a target the decommissioned BRP Miguel Malvar (PS19) using missile systems from both the Philippines and the United States during a maritime strike exercise under the Balikatan Exercises in San Antonio, Zambales on Monday, May 5.
The AFP treats the event as a symbolic farewell to the BRP Miguel Malvar, the Philippine Navy’s (PN) most decorated warship, as it would be sunk to the ocean floor to test the precision and firepower of both Philippines and US military assets.
The AFP was awaiting confirmation from the Palace if President Marcos Jr. would attend the exercise.
Balikatan spokesperson Brig. Gen. Michael Logico said the ship would be engaged by the AFP and US military approximately 30 to 40 nautical miles off the coast of Zambales in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
“We will be engaging it using our combined and joint assets. We will be using our FA-50s [fighter aircraft], our A-29 Super Tucanos. We will fire our Spike NLOS (non-line of sight) missile from our fast attack interdiction craft, as well as our C-STAR [anti-ship cruise missile] from FF-151 [BRP Antonio Luna],” he said on Sunday, May 4.
From the US’ side, among the assets that would be used include F-16 and F-18 fighter jets, as well as B-1B bomber aircraft.
Logico did not confirm nor deny if the “ship killer” NMESIS or Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System would also be fired during the maritime strike exercise.
However, several units of the said anti-ship missile system had been deployed to northern Luzon by the US Marine Corps since last month.
“We hope to achieve joint and combined interoperability, and the lethality of our weapon systems,” Logico said of the maritime strike exercise.
BRP Miguel Malvar was a World War II corvette that was decommissioned by the Navy in 2021.
Although bearing the same name as a Filipino revolutionary general, it was different from the recently delivered corvette, BRP Miguel Malvar (FFG-06).
PS-19 was originally built as USS Brattleboro, a rescue patrol craft of the US Navy, in 1944. In 1966, it was transferred to the Vietnam Navy, until it was commissioned as BRP Miguel Malvar by the Philippine Navy in 1977.
The ship was deployed during the World War II, the Vietnam War, the secession campaign in Mindanao, as well as in the West Philippine Sea.
The ship produced 20 flag officers. The last commanding officer of BRP Miguel Malvar was Captain John Percie Alcos, who now serves as the spokesperson of the Philippine Navy.
He expressed pride with BRP Miguel Malvar, as well as sadness as it would be sunk after years of service to the country.
Alcos said the sinking of BRP Miguel Malvar “will serve [as] her final purpose to showcase that we have transitioned from a legacy Navy into a modern Navy.”