Key points
- US deploys missile launcher in northern Philippines
- Typhon can target Chinese mainland military, industrial sites
- China rebukes US, Philippines for fuelling arms race
ISLAMABAD: The US has deployed a new missile system in the northern Philippines, putting key Chinese military and commercial hubs within striking distance.
Deployed to a base on Luzon Island, the Typhon Missile System can fire missiles as far as 1,200 miles.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, this is the first time since the Cold War that the US military has deployed a land-based launching system with such a long range outside its borders.
The move has enraged China, a dominant force in the much-contested South China Sea.
Beijing lays claim to almost all of the South China Sea, which is claimed by almost all of its neighbours around the strategic trade route, including the Philippines.
As per military experts, the Typhon Weapon System is part of a broader strategic repositioning by the American military as it seeks to counter Beijing’s huge buildup of intermediate- and long-range missiles in the Pacific.
Typhon capabilities
The Typhon can fire two types of missiles. Tomahawk missiles bearing conventional warheads have a range of around 1,200 miles, putting into reach much of southeastern China along with the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.
In the event of a conflict with China, land-based missile systems such as the Typhon could be central to defending key US allies such as the Philippines, which has clashed with China.
The Chinese government has responded to the Typhon’s deployment with alarm, rebuking the US and the Philippines for fueling what it called an arms race.
Amid all this, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth is due to visit the Philippines and Japan this week.
Clear picture
His visit is expected to give a clear picture of the US strategy in the Indo-Pacific.
In the case of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, such missiles could target air-defence and radar systems on the Chinese coast as well as the Chinese military’s control-and-command centres in Guangzhou and Nanjing, reported the Wall Street Journal.
The shorter-range Standard Missile 6, or SM-6, could target Chinese or other enemy ships and aircraft and intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles fired at US interests.
Army officials, as per the US media, have said that it is the only missile in the US arsenal capable of intercepting, at least in late flight, the hypersonic missiles that both China and Russia have been testing.
China keeps a watchful eye on all these developments, positioning itself to defend its interests.
