The Pentagon has revealed the existence of a forward-deployed activity power within the Philippines centered on supporting Manila’s maritime operations within the South China Sea.
Job Drive-Ayungin, composed of American service members and named after the Philippine designation for Second Thomas Shoal, was seen for the primary time on Wednesday throughout Secretary of Protection Lloyd Austin’s go to to U.S. and Philippine troops in Palawan.
“The duty power is comprised of U.S. forces offering our Philippines allies with enhanced cooperation and interoperability for his or her maritime operations,” reads a Monday assertion from Pentagon spokesman Maj. Pete Nguyen offered to USNI Information.
Nguyen stated the duty power assists in planning and coaching for the Armed Forces of the Philippines Western Command. Philippine naval and air forces inside this command continuously encounter their Chinese language counterparts within the West Philippine Sea, an space of the South China Sea that Manila claims as its unique financial zone. Job Drive Ayungin’s efforts included the integration of U.S.-funded unmanned floor vessels, which had been introduced throughout Austin’s go to to the Command and Management Fusion Heart at Antonio Bautista Airbase.
In response to the Pentagon, the Maritime Tactical Methods drones had been offered beneath overseas navy financing. The Philippine Navy’s unmanned floor vessel unit has 4 MANTAS T-12s and no less than one T-38 Satan Ray, DefenseScoop reported.
“The T-12 is a key functionality utilized by Philippine forces to guard its sovereignty and function all through its unique financial zone within the South China Sea,” reads a Pentagon launch. Austin expects extra drones to be offered beneath the $500 million in protection help pledged throughout his go to to Manila in July.
The Philippine nationwide safety advisor burdened that Job Drive Ayungin solely helps Manila’s efforts within the South China Sea, stating that resupply to Second Thomas Shoal “is at all times a pure Filipino operation.” He additionally claimed that the duty power helps maritime area consciousness efforts.
Second Thomas Shoal has been the positioning of quite a few incidents between Manila and Beijing from 2023 to 2024 over the presence of BRP Sierra Madre (LT-57), a beached Second World Warfare-era touchdown ship tank. Clashes between the 2 forces centered on the resupply and personnel rotation of the embarked Philippine Marine Corps contingent. This culminated in a main incident on June seventeenth that finally led to a “preliminary settlement” on Manila’s resupply missions. Since then, there have been no less than two publicized resupply missions and no encounters with Chinese language forces over the shoal.
Whereas it’s unclear when the U.S. and the Philippines created the duty power, American intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance belongings have been deployed to the Philippines throughout the final yr to bolster Manila’s efforts within the area. These efforts embody the deployment of Marine Corps MQ-9A Reaper and Military Gray Eagle drones and the presence of Navy P-8A Poseidon patrol plane and Military Gray Eagle drones over resupply missions to Second Thomas Shoal. Forces throughout U.S. Indo-Pacific Command have additionally been affected by the spats across the disputed South China Sea maritime characteristic. Stars and Stripes reported that forward-deployed Marines in Australia got a warning order following one incident over the summer season.
“U.S. forces have many years of shut partnership with the Philippines. This activity power is a continuation of that longstanding relationship in help of our shared safety pursuits,” stated Nguyen.
