MANILA — The Philippine Navy (PN) is set to test its newly-acquired Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd Spike-ER surface-to-surface missile systems on July 17 to 18 and July 24 to 26 off Corregidor Island.
This was confirmed by Department of National Defense (DND) spokesperson Arsenio Andolong in a message to the Philippine News Agency Monday morning.
“Yes, tests will be conducted on the missiles and their platforms sometime on those dates and somewhere in the area of Corregidor Island. This is all part of the Technical Inspection and Acceptance procedure that all of our acquisitions undergo,” Andolong said.
This includes live-test firing of the missiles now arming multi-purpose assault craft (MPACs) with bow numbers BA-488, BA-489, and BA-491.
The boats are the Navy’s Batch 3 MPACs, which was constructed by the Subic-based Propmech Corporation and activated on May 22, 2017.
Andolong, however, declined to give the exact locations of the test sites for security reasons.
The Spike-ER system, which arrived in the country last April, is the PN’s first missile weapon capable penetrating 1,000 mm (39 inches) of rolled homogeneous armor and having a range of eight kilometers.
Andolong’s statements were confirmed by PN spokesperson Cmdr. Jonathan Zata.
“(The dates) are for the series of acceptance trials needed to ensure that the missile system is delivered and accepted in accordance with set standards. The additional dates are for flexibility should bad weather prevail,” Zata said in a text message.
Zata also stressed that the PN is closely coordinating with the DND, through the project management team, to ensure that the missile undergoes acceptance trials on the mentioned dates. (Priam Nepomuceno/PNA)
