Prepared to respond to any crisis

Firepower: A US 155mm Howitzer firing a round during the annual ­combat drills in Capas, northern Philippines. — AP

Truck-mounted launchers blasted off rockets and US stealth fighter jets streaked across the northern Philippine sky in a combat drill that marked the latest display of American firepower.

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.