US Marines knocked down on Sunday two drones using the MADIS short-range air defense system during a drill inZambales, a province in thenorthern Philippines facing the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea in what opposition groups claimed the activity endangered the local population.
Reporters were invited to cover the event whereUS Marines participating in this year’s Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) flexed its newMarine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) along with the PhilippinesSPYDER missile system in a mocked drone attackat the Naval Education Training and Doctrine Command in San Antonio town.
“We’re defending the Coastline. The Philippine Air Force FA-50s flew out simulating cruise missiles. So, the frigate engaged the cruise missiles. They turned around and started coming towards the shoreline, which Spyder then integrated. And then we started flying drones against Madis in defense of Spyder,” Col. John Lehane, commanding officer of 3rdMarine Littoral Regiment, told reporters.
Currently, Manila has three SPYDER surface-to-air missile (SAM) batteries acquired in late 2022, a part of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Horizon 2 modernization program.The SPYDER system can intercept a wide range of aerial threats, including aircraft, helicopters, drones, and even cruise missiles
MADIS, on the other hand, is ashort-range, surface-to-air system that specializes in the detection and destruction of unmanned aircraft systems.
“We don’t know what threat will happen. So that’s why we always train, that’s why we always train,” said Major Elree Cardeno, 960th air and missile defense group of the Philippine Air Force.
The live-fire test for MADIS was the second training, following training in January at the Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island of Hawaii. It was also the system’s first deployment of the system outside of the United States.
“The MADIS is a unique weapon system that enhances both the survivability and lethality by extending the reach of the airspace over which the formation has control, and by giving tactical flexibility to the friendly elements operating within our area of operations,” said Lehane.
With MADIS, Marines can target and neutralize UAVs without leaving their vehicle. The system, mounted on a tactical vehicle, uses radar and weapons like jammers, Stinger missiles, and a 30mm cannon to eliminate aerial threats.
A day earlier, Filipino and American soldiers deployed the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) using a U.S. Air Force C-130 aircraft as part of an island-retaking scenario or ‘maritime key terrain security operations in Batanes,a small province at the northernmost tip of the Philippines facing Taiwan.
But US and Filipino officials defended the deployment of NMESIS, saying it was the training area made available to them at the invitation of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
“The importance of the Nemesis is its part and parcel to our formation. So, where you see a Marine, you will see Nemesis. That is the uniqueness of the weapon system. And it’s part of our formation and it’s part of training with our brothers and sisters in the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” Lehane said on Sunday in a press briefing in San Antonio Zambales.
For his part, US Marine Lt. Gen. Michael Cederholm said the introduction of NMESIS into the first island chain for sea denial, sea control is another step in our force design journey.
“We’re not here practicing a war plan. We’re practicing for the defense of the Philippines,” he added.
A prominent leftist party in the Philippines, which has consistently criticised the policies of President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, warned that the deployment of NMESIS anti-ship missile and the mid-range Typhon missile system in the ongoing Balikatan military exercises endangers the local population and makes the country more vulnerable to external threats.
The US-made Mid-Range Capability missile launcher – commonly known as theTyphon– was deployed in the Philippines April last year for joint military exercises.
TheTyphonland-based system can fire Raytheon’s Standard Missile 6 (SM-6), which has a range of more than 240km, and the Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missile, with a range of roughly 2,500km. Its placement in the Philippines gives it coverage of the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.
