NMESIS deployed during drills, but no missiles fired, spox clarifies

(UPDATED) MANILA, Philippines — The NMESIS or Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System was deployed during the annual war games between Manila and Washington, but no missiles were fired during that time, the United States’ Navy Pacific Fleet clarified on Thursday.

Earlier, US Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler stated that the NMESIS was test-fired.

“We test-fired NMESIS missiles,” Koehler said in his speech in passing, without further elaborating.

However, a Pacific Fleet spokesperson later said that Koehler “imprecisely stated in his speech that the United States test fired the NMESIS during Balikatan.”

"The NMESIS was deployed during Balikatan and took part in battle drills but no missiles were fired,” the spokesperson further said.

Also asked about the firing of NMESIS missiles, Lt. Gen. Michael Cederholm, US 1st Marine Expeditionary Force commanding general, told reporters: “I don't go into details, because of operational security reasons, but we got great training from our NMESIS batteries that we brought.”

The NMESIS, an anti-ship missile system, is designed to strike surface vessels from land-based positions at a distance of about 185 kilometers.

Previously, Navy spokesperson Capt. John Percie Alcos said NMESIS “will remain here in our country for as long as training opportunities are still there for us.”

READ: NMESIS missile system to remain in PH – Navy

 

Aside from NMESIS, American missile Typhon midrange capability (MRC) missile is also in the country, capable of hitting targets up to 2,500 kilometers away. 

NMESIS was recently used in Batanes for the Balikatan exercise, while the Typhon was also spotted in Laoag, Ilocos Norte in previous years.

Batanes and Ilocos Norte are facing Taiwan, a self-ruled island deemed by China as a renegade province subject to reunification.

Batanes’ northernmost island Mavulis, and Laoag City is only about 142 kilometers and just over 400 kilometers away, respectively, from Cape Eluanbi, the southernmost tip of Taiwan. 

Taiwan broke away from the Chinese mainland in 1949 following the takeover of the Communist Party, which has not ruled out the usage of force to put the island territory under its control. 

Aside from deployment of missile systems in Luzon, Manila also allowed Washington access to three of its military bases—two in Cagayan and another one in Isabela—near Taiwan under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca).

These Edca sites irked Beijing, which stressed that the agreement was made so that Washington could “encircle and contain China” which would drag the Philippines into “the Taiwan question,” a claim that was rejected by Manila.

China also repeatedly condemned the deployment of Typhon and NMESIS missiles to the country, deeming it provocative. /das/gsg

(2025/07/10-13:23)

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