LOOK: PH Navy receives radar system from US

The Philippine Navy has a new radar system donated by the US. Photos from the US Embassy

The United States donated on Wednesday a radar system that will boost the Philippine Navy’s maritime intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance amid challenges in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

“Col. Ernest C. Lee, Chief of the Joint U.S. Military Assistance Group in the Philippines, formally transferred a new 28M Class Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS) to Flag Officer in Command of the Philippine Navy (PN) Vice Adm. Joseph Ronald S. Mercado in a turn-over ceremony at the Naval Education and Training Command (NETC) in Zambales on August 22, 2017,” the United States Embassy in Manila said in a statement.

The TARS is described as a self-sustained, rapidly deployable, unmanned lighter-than-air platform, which can climb to an altitude of 5,000 feet while tethered by a single cable.

It can detect maritime and air traffic within the country’s coastal waters and sensors, and can also be used for humanitarian assistance and disaster response.

The embassy said the naval base in Zambales – which is the largest naval base with flat terrain that could fit the minimum requirement of 300 square feet for the launching of the system – is the staging point for the radar system.

In July, US donated 2 Cessna patrol planes currently stationed at Villamor Airbase in Pasay City, delivered 1,040 2.75-inch rocket motors and 992 2.75-inch rockets to the Philippine Air Force at Clark Air Base, Pampanga to reinforce the Philippine Marines in fighting Islamic State-linked Maute Group./ac

The radar system was pledged during the Obama administration under the US government’s Maritime Security Initiative./ac