US anti-ship missile NMESIS now in PH as ‘security anxiety’ looms

U.S. Marines with I Marine Expeditionary Force deploy a Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) during Project Convergence 2022 (PC22) on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, Oct. 18, 2022. | PHOTO: U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Juan Magadan

MANILA, Philippines — The American anti-ship missile Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) is now in the Philippines in a move seen to further bolster the nation’s deterrence capability during what an expert deemed to be a period when “security anxiety” prevails.

Brigadier General Michael Logico, exercise director of Balikatan exercises, said on Tuesday that the NMESIS would be used for the annual war games of Manila and Washington.

“The NMESIS, I confirm that it is already in the country,” Logico said in a regular military briefing.

“I will not say where, but it will be part of the exercises,” he added.

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US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth initially announced the deployment for Balikatan drills during his first visit to the Philippines.

For security expert Chester Cabalza, the deployment of NMESIS “proves the trust and confidence of the two security allies in terms of interoperability.”

Manila and Washington are bound by a Mutual Defense Treaty that requires each other’s defense in case of an armed attack.

“This deterrent force upholds the military transformation that Manila envisions to carry on amid security anxiety posed by Chinese Communist’s deployment of drones inside the Philippines’ internal waters,” Cabalza, president and founder of Manila-based think tank International Development and Security Cooperation, told INQUIRER.net in an interview on Tuesday.

2nd US missile

The US anti-ship missile, NMESIS is the second US missile deployed to the Philippines.

The US midrange capability (MRC) Typhon missile arrived in the country from the United States on April 11, 2024, and was first used during the Balikatan exercises as well. It has stayed in the Philippines since and was last spotted in Ilocos Norte, a coastal province facing Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province subject to reunification.

Beijing has repeatedly objected to the arrival of the MRC in the Philippines, saying it incites geopolitical confrontation in the region.

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To date, the Philippines has its own medium-range supersonic cruise missile, dubbed “BrahMos,” which has a range of 290 to 400 kilometers and could travel at Mach 2.8, or about three times faster than the speed of sound.