Philippines enters the missile age
The Philippines fired a missile for the first time in its history from aboard a Multipurpose Assault Craft (MPAC) Mk 3 vessel on 9 August.
The missile on its maiden sea acceptance test was a Rafael Spike-ER, which was delivered to the Philippine Navy (PN) in April this year. The firing took place near Lamao Point on the Bataan Peninsula.
The missile flew from vessel BA-491 for approximately 6km before successfully striking the moored target ‘dead centre’. At the time, sea conditions involved more than 1m-high waves.
The explosion did not destroy the fabricated target, a reminder that the
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