U.S. & Philippine Marines Simulate Attacks Against Chinese Warships Using Drones & BrahMos Anti-Ship Missiles

United States and the Philippines recently conducted a naval exercise under the Archipelagic Coastal Defence Continuum 26.4 in the Luzon Marine Base, wherein they used drones and BrahMos missiles to target simulated Chinese warships, including 2 Type 052D destroyers, a Type 901 support ship, and a Type 054A frigate.

In order to make the training challenging and as realistic as possible, both countries used a naval formation of the Chinese Navy (PLAN) to defend the territorial waters of Manila.

During the exercise, the Marine teams made use of the Hermes drones of the Philippines’ Armed Forces to identify and track the targets, with the goal of making a complete ‘kill chain’, which in maritime naval terminology means the complete procedure involving the targeting, tracking and attacking the enemy.

The joint drill also enabled the Philippine Navy to test its new weapons and integrate them into a single defence system.

Philippines purchased India’s BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles for 375 million USD in 2022, which can travel 3 times faster than the speed of sound and deliver a warhead weighing four hundred pounds. In this exercise, these missiles were used to target the simulated enemy targets.

According to naval experts, anti-ship missiles with a long range can prove useful only when the intelligence that is fed into them is accurate. If it is not supported by real-time data, it loses the tactical benefit.

During the drill, the drones were integrated with the BrahMos to increase the precision of the strike, thereby proving that smaller naval units can also be lethal to sophisticated naval groups armed with weapons.

The development comes amidst growing diplomatic strain between Beijing and Manila over the South China Sea, which the former claims in its entirety, despite international rulings.

Hence, the Philippines is preparing itself to face and counter China in the contested waters by investing in new types of drones, missiles and weapon systems.

Manila has built the first BrahMos facility in a western Luzon base which is close to the Scarborough Shoal, a disputed island between China and the Philippines, where skirmishes between the vessels of both countries are often reported.

The Philippines is also planning to establish missile detachments in the northern part of Luzon as well as in Palawan.