MANILA — Once installed and fully operational, the Israeli-made Spike-ER surface-to-surface missiles will be useful in protecting the country’s vast maritime territories and sealanes of communications.
This was disclosed by Philippine Navy (PN) flag-officer-in-command Vice Admiral Robert Empedrad in an interview Sunday.
The weapons, are now undergoing integration on three of the Navy’s multi-purpose attack crafts (MPACs), will greatly deter shipborne intruders trying to violate the country’s waters.
“The (Spike-ER) missiles are very accurate and I’m sure (that once it is up and running) it can threaten intruders aside from securing the choke points (of our) sealanes of our maritime nation,” Empedrad added.
The Spike-ER missiles along with its launchers arrived on the third week of April.
It is the first missile system to be acquired by the PN.
These missiles are capable of penetrating 1,000 mm (39 inches) of rolled homogeneous armor and has a range of eight kilometers.
As of this posting, the Navy has nine MPACs in inventory with another three units planned.
Three of the above-mentioned craft are now being fitted with the Spike-Er missiles and its launchers.
These naval craft were activated in May 22, 2017 and were manufactured by Subic-based Propmech Corporation for PHP270 million. (Priam Nepomuceno/PNA)
