Tag: Missiles
US Missile Deployment And $500M Military Aid To PH: Defensive Or Offensive Posturing?
LAST July 30, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III dropped by Manila for the Philippines-US 2+2 ministerial dialogue, the fourth such talks since it began in 2012. This is unprecedented because it’s the first time that talks have been held in Manila. Indeed, the PH-US 2+2 dialogue has set the stage for continued and expanded military cooperation, reflecting a strengthened military and defense alliance between the two sides. Before visiting Manila, the two US officials also held talks in Tokyo with their counterpart top Japanese defense and diplomatic officials on July 28 to bolster military and defense cooperation.
US Missile Deployment And $500M Military Aid To PH: Defensive Or Offensive Posturing?
Related:
US missile system may stay in PH after military drill – Army
THE Philippine Army yesterday said a medium-range missile system [Typhon] of United States military may remain in the country beyond September this year, depending on the training needs of Filipino troops.
China-Philippines ties may improve, as long as US stops interfering
NO to US-BBM War, NO to EDCA Bases! Blinken-Austin Get Out, Stay Out!
The Philippines and China have just restored peace and stability in the areas of the South China Sea contested by the two countries in a July 21, 2024 “de-escalation” deal that aimed at “easing tensions.”
NO to US-BBM War, NO to EDCA Bases!
Blinken-Austin Get Out, Stay Out!
Related:
NO to US-BBM War, NO to EDCA Bases! – Cebu
NO to US-BBM War, NO to EDCA Bases! Blinken-Austin Get Out, Stay Out! Forum Statement
Washington’s Use and Abuse of the Philippines Takes Next Step
Washington’s Use and Abuse of the Philippines Takes Next Step
The United States has taken yet another step toward shaping the Southeast Asian archipelago nation of the Philippines into an Ukraine-style proxy with which to encircle and contain China, this time in the form of a $500 million military assistance package for Manila.
Washington’s Use and Abuse of the Philippines Takes Next Step
Australian-based Marines ready to support Manila in sea-territory skirmish
Australian-based Marines ready to support Manila in sea-territory skirmish
“We were given a warning order to support the Philippines defense forces in resupplying of the Second Thomas Shoal,” Marine Rotational Force — Darwin commander Col. Brian Mulvihill told Stars and Stripes on Wednesday at an Outback training camp in the Northern Territory.
…
The Marines have been monitoring events at the shoal over a drone feed, Mulvihill said.
“We were ready to support the Philippine defense forces,” he said, noting that Marines across the Pacific are also ready to back the U.S. ally.
The rotational force can airlift food and water by pushing pallets out of helicopters, he added.
“We can control airspace and aircraft from many nations,” he said. “We provide a range of options if a host nation, through the embassy, requires assistance.”
…
Darwin is an excellent platform for launching forces into Southeast Asia, according to Grant Newsham, a retired Marine colonel and senior researcher with the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies in Tokyo.
“It’s good to see Darwin and Northern Territory being used this way … rather than just as a training area for Marines, Air Force, and Australian and other forces,” he said by email Thursday.
The Marines can offer the Philippines fire support coordination. They can help with logistics and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and guard locations that support Philippine forces operating towards the disputed shoal, he said.
“Of course, Marines can deploy aboard Philippine resupply boats alongside [Philippine] personnel,” he said.
Marine engineers could repair the Sierra Madre at the shoal and Marine helicopters could resupply it, Newsham added.
“A U.S. amphibious ship or two with Marines and their aircraft and other hardware aboard deployed to Second Thomas Shoal would be a serious force — and also sending a clear message,” he said. “Deploying Marines in the Philippines with their aviation, long-range rockets, and other hardware has a political significance in itself.”
Related:
Japan Forum for Strategic Studies
South China Sea: Philippines says to solely run Second Thomas Shoal resupply missions
U.S. Files Serial Numbers Off Missiles Sent To Israel
WASHINGTON—In an effort to ensure the munitions were completely untraceable, the U.S. military began filing the serial numbers off all missiles being sent to the Israeli government, anonymous sources within the Pentagon confirmed Friday. “In the wake of recent IDF operations in Rafah, we will no longer serve as arms supplier to Israel without first removing the serial numbers from rocket artillery,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reportedly told the Joint Chiefs of Staff, explaining that after assessing the situation, he and President Biden had agreed to pause shipments of high-payload munitions until the military could erase all evidence that they came from the United States. “We cannot in good conscience continue to enable a military campaign targeting innocent civilians in Gaza unless we’ve covered all our tracks. Tell your men and women that we have secured nearly 6 tons of steel wool that they are to use to sand down any identifying markers on missiles, ammunition, and tanks so we can confidently feign ignorance when the U.N. or the International Criminal Court comes around asking a bunch of questions. Be sure to scrape the little U.S. flags off the side, too—in fact, if there’s time, cover it with France’s or something. Then hit them all with a shammy to remove any fingerprints.” At press time, reports confirmed the armaments had arrived in Israel with no return address marked on the crates.
Littoral Combat Ship Still Fighting to Prove Its Worth
The Littoral Combat Ship was meant to start the Navy’s operational renaissance. But a chorus of naysayers and critics have put service leaders on the defensive, insisting that the troubled program has turned a corner.
Littoral Combat Ship Still Fighting to Prove Its Worth
They’ve increased the crew size and have been training them to maintain the ships themselves rather than relying on the original contractors.
Related:
The Littoral Combat Ship: How We Got Here, and Why (PDF)
USNI Proceedings Podcast – Littoral Combat Ships: How the Navy is Employing Them (Ted LeClair, Marc Crawford, Mark Haney)
Previously:
The Inside Story of How the Navy Spent Billions on the “Little Crappy Ship”
The Navy just launched a brand new ship it doesn’t even want
Defense Contractors Are Bilking the American People
America’s national priorities are badly misplaced. Our country spends, with almost no debate, nearly $1 trillion a year on the military while at the same time ignoring massive problems at home.
Defense Contractors Are Bilking the American People
Is the Philippines becoming a US ‘proxy’ against Beijing in the South China Sea?
Is the Philippines becoming a US ‘proxy’ against Beijing in the South China Sea?
‘The ants that get trampled on’
Not everyone agrees with drawing closer to the US, however, and they warn about the Philippines turning into a “proxy” for American interests. The president’s own sister Imee, a senator, told ANC Digital earlier this month that “China will always be our neighbour, we have no fight with them, let’s not get dragged into a fight that’s not our own.”
Anna Rosario Malindog-Uy, director of the pro-China Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute, wrote in the Manila Times on February 10 that “agreements such as the EDCA, the VFA and the Mutual Defence Treaty have not only cemented the US military presence and influence in the Philippines but also, most importantly, exemplified the Philippines’ dependence on the US in the military and defence sector.”
Teresita Ang See, former president of the Philippine Association for Chinese Studies and currently part of its advisory council, told This Week in Asia: “Filipinos in general condemn China’s action. But many also understand that China’s assertiveness is in response to US, Japanese and Australian provocations and increasing military presence in the Philippines.”
She warned that “we are fighting a proxy war between the US and China and in the end we will be the ants that get trampled upon”.
H/T: Johnsonwkchoi
Related:
Responding to the Catholic Bishops
Philippines counts the cost of tough South China Sea stance against Beijing
Fatal Flaws Undermine America’s Defense Industrial Base
The first-ever US Department of Defense National Defense Industrial Strategy (NDIS) confirms what many analysts have concluded in regard to the unsustainable nature of Washington’s global-spanning foreign policy objectives and its defense industrial base’s (DIB) inability to achieve them.
Fatal Flaws Undermine America’s Defense Industrial Base
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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