According to the latest reports in the US media, on June 15, two days before the Second Thomas Shoal conflict, the United States and the Philippines held a special bilateral exercise for the first time, and the US Marine Corps dispatched F-35Bs to stage a "fifth-generation aircraft strike at sea targets" off the coast of the Philippines.
Just last week, four F-35B stealth fighters from the U.S. Marine Corps dropped seven GBU-32 guided bombs on targets off the coast of West Luzon in the Philippines as part of the U.S.-Philippine Marine Corps Air Support Operations (MASA) live-fire exercise, the U.S. Naval Institute news website reported on June 24. This exercise has also attracted great attention from foreign media, not only because the US military has rarely dispatched two stealth fighters in the exercise, but also because the exercise location is only 230 kilometers away from Scarborough Shoal. The American media also stressed that "this is the first bilateral exercise of this kind between the United States and the Philippines."
U.S. F-35B fighter jets drop guided munitions
According to the report, the naval strike of the US F-35B fighter is part of the "Marine Corps Aviation Support Operation" (MASA) live-fire exercise between the United States and the Philippines. According to Brigadier General Robert Brody, commander of the 1st Marine Corps Expeditionary Force, while the MASA exercise is far smaller than the annual "shoulder-to-shoulder" exercise between the United States and the Philippines, it provides valuable joint combat experience for both sides.
During the June 15 exercise, the U.S. military used intelligence from Philippine Navy and Air Force drones to relay orders to a C-130 transport aircraft hovering near the exercise area, acting as an air command platform, and then the transport plane sent target information to four F-35B fighters in the U.S. Marine Corps' 214th Fighter Strike Squadron. The F-35 then goes to the target area to strike, and once the F-35 finds the target, the information is immediately transmitted back to the joint command center.
To put it simply, the U.S. military C-130 transport aircraft acts as an air relay communication platform, and after obtaining the intelligence obtained from the Philippine military's drone reconnaissance, it provides target designation to the U.S. F-35B fighter.
C-130 transport aircraft of the US Air Force
Brody, the U.S. commander involved in the exercise, said that after receiving target information from the F-35B fighter jets at the joint command center, he discussed it with Brigadier General Romeo Lacadio, deputy commander of the Philippine Marine Corps, and approved the attack. "It's much more complicated than simply giving the order for the F-35 to attack directly," he said. ”
The U.S. Naval Institute news website also reported that two F-199 fighters from the U.S. Air Force's 22nd Fighter Squadron also conducted "defensive combat air patrols" during the exercise. That is, while the F-35B fighters of the US Marine Corps are carrying out operations, the F-22 fighters from the US Air Force are responsible for providing cover on the perimeter.
The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command also informed the exercise, saying it was conducted at two locations in the Philippines, Camp Bojeador and the Philippine Naval Education, Training and Doctrine Command (NETDC). In the north, Philippine Marines used ground artillery to strike sea targets 4 nautical miles from Cape Boyedo camp; In the south, four U.S. Marine Corps F-35B fighters taking off from Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines carried out air strikes on sea targets 3 nautical miles west of NETDC. Philippine military drones provided support in two live-fire strike operations. According to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, the exercise demonstrated the combined command and control capabilities of the U.S. and Philippine militaries in a "territorial defense scenario."
U.S. F-35B fighter jets refueled in the air to the Philippines
It can be seen that the Philippine military mainly played the role of intelligence reconnaissance in the exercise, while the US military provided fire guidance and direct strikes, and the US military sent two stealth fighters to participate in the operation at the same time. U.S. F-35B fighter jets deployed in the western Pacific usually take off from amphibious assault ships or air bases of U.S. allies, but according to the latest "Fleet Dynamics" information on the U.S. Naval Institute news website, no U.S. amphibious assault ships are deployed near the exercise site. Therefore, the F-35B first flew to the Philippine Air Force base, and then took off to carry out a sea strike mission. In such a strike mission state, the F-35B fighter cannot carry more air combat weapons, so it needs a model with strong air combat capabilities to provide cover for it, and this task is handed over to the F-22 of the US Air Force.
In fact, judging from the entire exercise process, it also exposed the shortcomings of the United States and the Philippines in air coordinated operations. The first is the problem of the F-35B's "short legs", its combat radius is only 800 kilometers when fully loaded with ammunition, so it needs to be deployed to the front line in advance, and it is difficult to deploy quickly in the event of a conflict, and once the front-line airfield is destroyed, the F-35B will have no use; Secondly, the F-35B uses GBU-32 joint direct attack munitions with a maximum range of only 24 kilometers in the operation, which cannot strike targets from outside the defense area, which greatly increases the risk of the carrier aircraft being detected and shot down; Then there is the fact that the US military chose the C-130, which flies slowly and has no stealth capability, as a relay aircraft, and if it was a real battle, this kind of aircraft would have been shot down long ago without escort.
The U.S. military conducted operational deployments ahead of the exercise
However, the biggest "achievement" of this exercise is the initial verification of the cooperative combat capability of the US and Philippine air forces, including the opening of data links, intelligence sharing, coordinated operations, and joint command, which is also the most worthy of our vigilance.
As far as the Philippines is concerned, the US military dispatched two stealth fighters to conduct joint exercises with the Philippine military at the same time, which is to "embolden" the Philippine side to continue to infringe on the rights and provoke in the South China Sea, and does not rule out the possibility of further creating conflicts. For the United States, it has achieved the goal of continuing the fire in the South China Sea, and at the same time "paving the way" for the follow-up deeper joint exercises between the United States and the Philippines. U.S. military commander Brody also said that although the 2024 MASA exercise ended on June 21, talks about continuing the exercise next year have begun, and he has met with officials from the Philippine Air Force to discuss the possibility of joint training of U.S. and Philippine fighter jets together.
In the future, fighter jets of the United States and the Philippines may conduct joint air battles or joint exercises on ground and sea strikes, and the United States is also taking advantage of these opportunities to further strengthen the offensive capability of the Philippine Air Force, and at the same time lay the groundwork for itself to intervene in regional conflicts at any time.