US and allies sink Chinese-made navy ship during war exercise

The US, Philippines and Australia have sunk a Chinese-made warship in a simulated attack on an enemy vessel, as China doubles down on its sweeping territorial claims in the region.

Land, air, and naval assets pounded the 325-foot BRP More Caliraya, a replenishment oiler that the Philippine Navy acquired from China earlier Wednesday morning, off the west coast of Taiwan-facing Ilocos Norte province.

The exercise, called SINKEX, was part of the weeklong Balikatan exercise held annually between the US and the Philippines. About 17,000 soldiers took part in this year’s edition, the largest to date, including from Australia and France.

The exercise comes against the backdrop of increased friction between Beijing and US defense ally Manila. China claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, including areas within the Philippines’ internationally recognized exclusive economic zone. This has led to increasingly tense clashes in disputed waters over the past year, including two in March that left several Filipino sailors injured.

“By integrating as many combined detection and firing platforms as possible, the objective of the maritime attack exercise was to test and validate the combined fire networks,” said the US Indo-Pacific Command statement on Wednesday’s maritime attack exercise.

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After two hours the BRP arrived Caliraya Lake sank beneath the waves at 10:49 am. According to the US statement, the ship was kept afloat for as long as possible to “maximize training value”.

“We know the lethality and ability of our munitions to sink maritime targets,” said U.S. Marine Douglas Krugman. “This exercise was about the collective capability of our combined fire networks and increasing interoperability to detect and shoot down targets from a variety of Philippine, U.S. and Australian land, sea and air platforms.”

During the exercise, a variety of munitions were fired from warships, fighter aircraft and land platforms, including Spike anti-tank guided missiles, artillery shells and the South Korean-developed surface-to-surface C-Star cruise missile.

“Balikatan 2024 today made history with the first-ever launch of an anti-ship cruise missile by the Philippine Navy during a maritime strike activity in the South China Sea. (Philippine Guided Missile Frigate) BRP Jose Rizal fired one SSM-700K C-Star and successfully hit the target,” wrote freelance defense journalist Aaron-Matthew Lariosa in a social media post.

Last month, China’s state media outlet said Global times condemned the choice of the Caliraya Lake, built at the Taizhou Zhongxing Shipyard in China’s eastern Zhejiang province. “The Philippine side is preparing to target it in a simulated ‘enemy ship’ scenario, showing a clear provocative intent,” the article said.

Roy Vincent Trinidad, a spokesman for the Philippine Navy, told the media several days later that the selection was “just a coincidence. Don’t attach any significance to that.”

However, the model ship represented the Caliraya Lake bears a striking resemblance to China’s first two aircraft carriers, the Liaoning And ShandongMax Montero, an

“No military exercise should attack or harm the interests of a third party, nor should it undermine trust between countries and affect peace and stability in the region,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said ahead of the exercise , during a regular press conference. on Tuesday.

“Relevant countries must stop intrusions and provocations at sea, stop fomenting confrontations, and contribute to peace and stability in this region,” he said.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a written request for comment.