Filipino troopers, under instruction from US soldiers, practiced for the first time the use of state-of-the-art Javelin antitank missiles that have proven their effectiveness in wars in Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and lately Ukraine.
At the continuation of the largest-ever PH-US “Balikatan” exercises, one soldier each from the US Army, Philippine Army and US Marines took turns firing the portable missile system at cars that served as targets at Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija.
The exercise was meant for troops to apply lessons gleaned from lectures conducted last month as part of the Salaknib exercise, the largest joint exercise between the Philippine and US armies, where they trained together for the “defense of the archipelago” against “foreign aggressors.”
“We are seeing in the Ukraine and Russia conflict the use of these modern weapons. And if you saw some of the footage of the conflict in Ukraine, I’m sure you saw the effectivity of the Javelin weapon in taking out tanks,” Army chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. told reporters.
He said the Army plans to acquire the high-end weapon system in the future and it will be included in the Horizon 3 of the military’s modernization program.
“We want to also bring that capability to the Philippine Army in order for us to be able to bolster our defensive posture,” he said.
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