In a major development reported in the Financial Times, Philippine Defense secretary Gilberto Teodoro announced the country’s military’s intention to possibly acquire the Typhon mid-capability missile system.
Typhon was developed by Lockheed Martin in an accelerated program to provide the US Army with a deployable medium range strike missile system that the US brought to the country last spring for military exercises.
Typhon or the Strategic Mid-range Fires System (SMRF) is a piece of the US Army Long Range Precision Fires efforts. It adapts the Navy Aegis to a ground launched application. The HMETT semi-trailer Transporter-Erector- Launcher (TEL) leverages existing Raytheon-produced Standard Missile (SM-6) missiles and Tomahawk cruise missiles with four-carried in each container. The system has a range of between 240 km (150 miles) and 2500km (1550 miles) and can strike targets with high accuracy.
Currently, the US Army has had a Typhon battery deployed in the Philippines since the April as part of Exercise Salaknib 24 an extended joint drill. The systems were delivery by US Air Force Transport aircraft from the western United States. Philippine National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano has stated that currently there is no timeline for the system’s withdrawal of the missile system from the country. Ano further suggested the desire that the system be made available to the country’s forces for training, sharing “We also need to know how to operate this because, in the future, these are the types of equipment we would want to procure,”.
The Typhon positioned on northern Philippines has the capability to reach targets in both southern mainland China and the Taiwan Straits, South Chine Sea and portions of the Western Pacific. The Philippines is interested in the possibility of basing additional US assets in northern bases under an expanded Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).
by Stephen W. miller
