Analysts say this year’s drills, which stress tested a new generation of mobile strike capabilities, were a pointed display of resolve
4-MIN READ4-MIN ListenJeoffrey MaitemPublished: 12:00pm, 9 May 2026It took less than six minutes for Japan’s Type 88 missile to find its mark, a decommissioned Philippine warship 75km (47 miles) off the coast of Ilocos Norte.
The US-made Tomahawk took rather longer to hit its target, some 630km (390 miles) away.
It was, analysts say, a pointed display of resolve: Japanese, American and Filipino troops bringing this year’s Balikatan joint exercises to a thunderous close with a volley of missiles fired from sites in the far northern Philippines.AdvertisementThe Tomahawk cruise missile launched from a US Army Typhon system marked the first operational firing of the controversial launcher since it was deployed on Philippine soil more than two years ago.A Japanese Type 88 surface-to-ship missile system is launched on Thursday in the Philippines’ Ilocos Norte province during Balikatan 2026. Photo: AFPJapan’s test firing, meanwhile, was swiftly condemned by China as Tokyo’s first overseas “offensive missile” launch in eight decades and evidence of its rising “neo-militarism”.Advertisement
“The message of the exercise is clear,” said Chris Gardiner, chief executive of the Institute for Regional Security NGO in Canberra. “‘Not today’ – now is not the time to use force against the Philippines or to change the status quo around Taiwan.”
