US Patriot missiles deployed in Philippines for first time during exercise

The US Army mounts its first amphibious insertion of a Patriot missile system at the ongoing Balikatan exercises in northern Luzon. The missile system, however, was not tested for live-firing. - Photo from 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command

MANILA (Philippine Daily Inquirer/Asia News Network): The United States has deployed its state-of-the-art air and missile defence system to the Philippines for the first time as part of an annual joint war games and a major display of American force.

The US Army in the Pacific carried out the first amphibious insertion of a Patriot missile system — the first time that the United States deployed the system overseas by land and sea — in Aparri in the province of Cagayan, located in the northern Philippines facing south of Taiwan.