PH, Japan hold joint maritime patrol near West Philippine Sea

The Philippine Navy and Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) held a joint maritime patrol in Palawan on Tuesday, May 8. (Photo from JMSDF Facebook page)

The Philippines and Japan conducted a joint maritime patrol near the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) early this week.

Sources from the Philippine Navy said the training exercise, which was conducted last Tuesday in Palawan, focused on search and rescue missions.

Air assets involved in the joint exercise include two Kawasaki P-1 patrol aircraft from the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) and one Beechcraft C-90 of the Philippine Navy.

The JMSDF also released photos of the “goodwill exercise” conducted “in the waters and air around Palawan” on its Facebook page.

Japan previously donated five units of C-90 (formerly TC-90) to the Philippine government to help the latter with its maritime surveillance. The first two were delivered in 2017 and the three were delivered last March.

The Kawasaki P-1, meanwhile, is a Japanese maritime patrol aircraft a little larger than the P-3 Orion.

One of the sources said Japan was on a stopover to the Philippines and decided to hold a joint exercise.

“Our aircraft is relatively new so we are familiarizing with it. We need to fly it and learn how to deal with others so we hold exercises. It’s the next best thing to reality,” the source said.

He said the training which involves communication, learning the doctrine of other countries, procedures and identification, are important aspects of operations.

“You can use it when you patrol areas like the West Philippine Sea. You know the codes and the rules of engagement,” the source said. /je