By Priam Nepomuceno | Philippine News Agency
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Thursday said it is looking into “hardening” its facilities to make them more resistant to hypersonic missile strikes and other forms of attack.
“A missile attack is a possibility, ’yon nga po, naireport na may 25 targets dito. That is why we are also preparing for those, ang isa pong puwede nating gawin is to harden our facilities. We protect our facilities from possible missile attacks,” AFP chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said in a press briefing at Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City shortly after the military’s first semester command conference with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.
Brawner was referring to earlier reports, quoting Sen. Imee Marcos as saying that 25 areas in the country are potential targets of China’s hypersonic missiles, in response to the Philippines’ Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with the United States and ongoing tensions in the West Philippine Sea.
Marcos, in a video, said these targets include “Batanes, Subic, and Ilocos”.
Hypersonic missiles are weapons capable of flying toward their target with speeds of five to 25 times the speed of sound. These weapons are hard to track and intercept with ordinary air defense systems.
Brawner said there are a lot of different technologies now available to protect the country against such strikes.
He said missile and drone attacks are among modern warfare challenges that must be faced, as seen in the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Israel.