US showcases firepower in joint combat drills with Philippines

A US M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System fires a missile during the combat drills. - AP

CAPAS, Philippines (AP): Truck-mounted launchers blasted off rockets and US stealth fighter jets streaked across the northern Philippine sky on Thursday (Oct 13) in a combat drill that marked the latest display of American firepower in a region where Washington has tried to deter what it warns as China’s growing aggression.

The live-fire exercises at a gunnery and bombing range in a desolate valley in Capas town north of Manila were the highlight of two weeks of combat readiness manoeuvres, which included mock amphibious assaults and joint coastal defence tactics involving more than 2,500 American and Philippine marines.