On April 29, Japan delivered a “mobile air surveillance radar system” to the Philippines. This comes as tensions have increased between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea.
The system can track sea vessels, drones, and aircraft. A key feature of the system is its easy deployability and operation. This makes the system ideal for operating on the many remote islands of the Philippines.
NHK also reported that Japanese Minister of Defense Oniki Makoto and Filipino Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro attended the handover ceremony in Manila.
Oniki said that if Japan and the Philippines strengthen surveillance capabilities and work together amid the increasingly severe security environment in the Indo-Pacific region, it will contribute to enhanced deterrence, according to the Japanese news service, NHK.
At the ceremony, Teodoro said that both the Philippines and Japan are facing similar threats and that both nations need to increase their cooperation to face them.
The Philippines has plans to acquire a total of four radar systems of this type, and an additional five maritime surveillance radar systems according to NHK.
