Daily TribuneNMESIS, a mobile coastal missile system, enhances sea denial and allows for land-based precision strikes on maritime targets.
Modern spear for the littoral battlefield US Marines load the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System onto a KC-130J Super Hercules en route to the windswept Batanes Island chain for the 2025 Kamandag Exercises.
Photograph courtesy of 3d Marine Littoral Regiment
An advanced American-made anti-ship missile system will be showcased during this year’s Kaagapay ng mga Mandirigma mula sa Dagat (Kamandag) joint military exercises between the Philippines and the United States.
The exercises, running from 26 May to 6 June, will include live-fire drills at Col. Ernesto Rabina Air Base in Capas, Tarlac, and a maritime strike operation in Burgos, Ilocos Norte.
Other key events include a counter-landing exercise at Camp Bojeador and a defensive retrograde operation at Paredes Air Station, both in Ilocos Norte.
Philippine Marine Corps (PMC) Commandant Maj. Gen. Arturo Rojas confirmed that the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) will be used in the drills, following its deployment in the country last month.
“Like in the Balikatan exercises, NMESIS will again be used to build on previous lessons and capabilities,” Rojas said at the opening ceremony.
NMESIS, a mobile coastal missile system, enhances sea denial and allows for land-based precision strikes on maritime targets.
Previously deployed in Northern Luzon and the Batanes Islands during the Balikatan war games, it provides a hard-to-detect, resilient launch platform in complex environments.
USMC Col. Jason Armas called NMESIS a “great capability” that extends operational reach and strengthens archipelagic coastal defense. “It truly advances the Philippine Armed Forces’ modernization,” he said.
This year’s Kamandag exercise features 4,268 participants. The Philippines has fielded 2,028 personnel, including PMC members, reservists, police, and coast guard units. The US has deployed 2,031 Marines.
South Korea, Japan and the United Kingdom also joined, contributing 80, 107, and 6 personnel respectively. Thirteen foreign observers from seven countries, including France, Canada, Bahrain, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Netherlands, are also in attendance.
Kamandag, meaning “Ally of the Warriors from the Sea,” is an annual bilateral exercise aimed at strengthening defense cooperation and humanitarian response between the US and Philippine forces.
