Exclusive: US deploys Typhon missile launcher to new location in Philippines

Author: Gerry Doyle and Karen Lema

(Reuters) – The U.S. military has moved its Typhon launchers, which can fire multi-role missiles with a range of thousands of kilometers, from Laoag Airport in the Philippines to Luzon, a senior Philippine government source said. of another location.

The Tomahawk cruise missile in the launcher can strike Chinese and Russian targets from the Philippines; it also carries SM-6 missiles that can strike air or sea targets up to 200 kilometers (165 miles) away.

Senior Philippine government sources said the redeployment will help determine where and how quickly the missile batteries can be moved to new launch locations. This mobility is seen as a way to improve their ability to survive conflict.

Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury School of International Studies said satellite images show batteries and related equipment being loaded onto C-17 transport aircraft at Laoag International Airport in recent weeks. Previously unreported images showed that a white awning covering Typhon’s equipment had also been removed, according to images seen by Reuters.

The “Typhon” system is part of the U.S. plan to amass various anti-ship weapons in Asia.

Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), which oversees U.S. forces in the region, told Reuters that the Typhon fighter jets had “moved to Philippine territory.” Both Indo-Pacific Command and the Philippine government declined to disclose the exact location to which the batteries were moved.

“The U.S. government is closely coordinating with the Philippine government on all aspects of the MRC deployment, including location,” said Indo-Pacific Command Adm. Matthew Comer, referring to Typhon’s official designation, a “medium-range capability.” acronym for.

He added that the relocation does not mean the batteries will stay in the Philippines permanently.

The weapon was first deployed during a training exercise in April 2024 and was heavily criticized by China. In September, when the United States said it had no immediate plans to withdraw the Typhon-class destroyers from the Philippines, China and Russia denounced the deployment as exacerbating an arms race.

China’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday accused the Philippines of sowing tension and confrontation in the region and urged it to “correct its wrong practices”.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a regular press conference: “(The deployment) is also an extremely irresponsible choice for the people of the country, the people of Southeast Asian countries, and regional security.”

The relative ease with which Typhon can be produced – leveraging large inventories and designs that have been around for a decade or more – could help the United States and its allies catch up quickly in the Indo-Pacific missile race, in which China is far ahead.

Although the U.S. military has declined to say how many SM-6 missiles will be deployed in the Indo-Pacific region, more than 800 SM-6 missiles will be purchased over the next five years, according to government documents outlining military procurement. Documents show there are thousands of tomahawks in U.S. stockpiles.

Both missiles are products of Raytheon.

(Reporting by Gerry Doyle in Singapore and Karen Lema in Manila; Additional reporting by Colleen Howe in Beijing; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)