The grounded naval ship BRP Sierra Madre at Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — During its West Philippine Sea patrol with France and the United States, the country’s air force conducted an airdrop exercise to practice a move that was previously done to circumvent a Chinese blockade attempt against the resupply mission to a naval outpost in Ayungin Shoal.
The airdrop drills were done twice using a Philippine Air Force light transport aircraft NC-212i at Patag Island’s military outpost on April 27, as part of the ongoing Balikatan exercise, according to Col. Michael Logico, the war games executive agent.
READ: PH Navy airdrops supplies to BRP Sierra Madre—source
“We were also able to conduct a resupply exercise at the Island of Patag while the group sail was ongoing,” Logico said in a regular press briefing in Camp Aguinaldo on Tuesday.
Despite being done during recently-concluded trilateral drills with Washington and Paris, Logico noted that the activity was only conducted by Manila.
Training opportunity
“This was all unilateral on our part: we saw a training opportunity to conduct a resupply exercise while the group sail was ongoing,” Logico explained.
In January, the Philippine Navy conducted an airdrop to send supplies in BRP Sierra Madre. The paradrop was conducted in lieu of the usual sending of supplies using ships as one of the boats sustained damage after China Coast Guard’s water cannon assault.
The rotation and reprovisioning (Rore) mission of the Philippines in the BRP Sierra Madre — a Navy ship grounded in Ayungin Shoal since 1999 — became the flashpoint of tension between Manila and Beijing.
Beijing asserts sovereignty in the entire South China Sea — including most of the West Philippine Sea — despite the July 2016 arbitral tribunal ruling that effectively invalidated its claims based on a case filed by Manila in 2013.