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I was supposed to make this Video many Months ago when I noticed that the United States (US) Forces were teaching Philippine Military Troops on the use of the Typhon Mid-Range Capability (MRC) Missile System here in the Philippines. I thought, why they heck are they teaching us its use, are we planning to buy it?
But then Russian President Vladimir Putin started talking against it, and the US and Philippines started to get Cold Feet and said they were going to pull the System out of the Country by September of this Year of 2024.
However, the US and Philippines for some Reason had a change of Heart again and said that the System will be staying in the Philippines indefinitely, and then some high-ranking Philippine Military and Defense Officials started confirming that they indeed, were planning to acquire it.
The latest Official to talk about it was no less than the Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro himself who said that they intend to buy the System.
The Typhon MRC is very new, it only entered Service with the US Armed Forces last Year of 2023. What they did was to get four Cells of the Strike Length Mk 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) used on Naval Vessels and put it on a Truck-mounted Container so it can be used on Land.
A typical Battery of the Typhon MRC System for now consists of four Launchers, an Operations Center Vehicle and a number of Support Vehicles. Each Launcher can carry four Missiles, so that means a total of sixteen Missiles for each Battery.
The Typhon System for now uses two Types of Missiles, first of which is the Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) which is mainly used as a Surface to Air Missile (SAM) on Western Destroyers, and it is one of the most capable SAMs in the West as it can shoot down Ballistic Missiles.
It is a pretty large Missile at 6.6 m long, weighing around 1,500 kg and with a Warhead of 64 kg. Although it is used mainly as a SAM, it turns out that it also has a second and third Capability against Ships and Land Targets, so it is a true Multi-Purpose Weapon. Its exact Range seems to be classified, but estimates put it as at least 240 km and at most at 460 km, and it flies at a speed of up to Mach 3.5 or around 4,290 kph.
The other Missile that the Typhon MRC uses for now is the legendary BGM-109 Tomahawk Missile which is almost unjammable because of the self-contained Guidance System that it uses, as I said before in an earlier Video I made about the Typhon MRC, it is basically a Robot that can find and attack Targets assigned to it on its own without any external Inputs if necessary.
It is used mainly as a Land Attack Weapon, although recently the US has added a secondary Capability to it so it can attack Ships also. It is also a fairly big Missile at 6.25 m long, weight of 1,600 kg and Warhead of 450 kg.
The Tomahawk is the standard which all other Cruise Missiles in the World is measured against, it first entered Service in the early 1980s, and since then many other Nations have built their own Versions of it with similar capability.
Its exact Range again is also classified, but estimates put it as at least 1,600 km, and at most up to 2,500 km. It is much slower than the SM-6 though as it can fly at only Mach 0.74, or around 920 kph.
Now, as I discussed before, even if we only consider the lower value of 1,600 km for the Tomahawk’s range, if launched from Luzon then it can reach all of the southern Coastal Cities of China and can reach as far as one of China’s major Cities, Shanghai.
So the biggest Question now is, is the Typhon MRC worth getting for the Philippines? My opinion for now is that if we are only going to use Conventional Weapons with its Tomahawk Missiles ... then no. But if we are going to somehow use Nuclear Warheads with it, then yes.
Let me explain, first with the SM-6. The SM-6 is a pretty expensive Missile, estimates put it as at least Usd 4 million each, so you wouldn’t want to use it just to shoot down some relatively inexpensive Drone out there.
To be worth the Shot, you want it to be used at its utmost capability against Ballistic Missiles. And it will be good for the Philippines to have some Anti-Ballistic Missile Capability. Against Sea Vessels, of course you would want it to be used against a fairly large Vessel, against an at least Corvette-sized Vessel for the shot to be worth it.
Now for the Tomahawks, assuming that the Ratio of Missiles is evenly distributed, then let’s assume that there will be around eight Tomahawks per Battery, with the other eight being the SM-6. Eight Tomahawks aren’t a lot, and even if we get more Batteries, I still don’t think they will make much of a difference.
The Russians are currently using their own Version of the Tomahawk, the Kalibr in their ongoing invasion of Ukraine, and they have fired at least 800 already of those in the War, but it has not necessarily been a War-winning Weapon.
Several dozen Tomahawk Missiles launched on Chinese Cities will probably do damage on their Infrastructure and take out some Chinese Citizens, but I think they will do nothing than just anger China more.
However, if Nuclear Warheads are used instead of Conventional Warheads, then that definitely will be another Story as even a few Missiles can do significant Damage in Terms of Lives and Infrastructure.
But doing so has its own major Problems also. First is that the US has stopped Production of the Nuclear-armed Version of the Tomahawks already fairly recently, reportedly around 2013. Stockpiles of those Missiles were also retired from Service.
Second is that the current Constitution of the Philippines doesn’t allow for even just the presence of Nuclear Weapons on Philippine Soil. And third, even if the production of Nuclear-armed Tomahawks is resumed and old Stockpiles reactivated, and the Philippine Constitution is changed, will the US sell Nuclear Weapons to us?
As far as I know, Countries don’t sell Nuclear Weapons to another Country, at least not openly. A Country has to develop and manufacture it on their own, and the Philippines’ current manufacturing capability is too far away from being able to do that, it doesn’t even have a Nuclear-powered Plant as of now.
Also having Nuclear Weapons will make the Philippines a sure Target of China for their own Nuclear Weapons, and they have several hundred of those and have had that capability for many Decades now.
China’s biggest fear I think right now with the Typhon System is that the US will put Nuclear Missiles on them, and deploy them secretly in the Philippines. And this is very possible, because the Philippines really doesn’t have any power to inspect US Military Cargo when they bring them into the Philippines.
We only rely on the US’ goodwill that they indeed won’t bring such Weapons into the Country, and it has been revealed before that several Decades ago, when the US still had their old Bases in Clark and Subic, they did reportedly secretly bring Nuclear Weapons into them.
So if the US and Philippines will continue to deploy the Typhon in the Philippines, once the US resumes the Production of their Nuclear Tomahawks, and/or reactivate their Stockpiles of those, or even make an entirely new Nuclear Missile that can be used on the Typhon, then China will likely assume the Worst and make the Philippines a definite Target of their Nuclear Weapons.
In parting, for me the acquisition of the Philippines of the Typhon won’t be that worth it if it is armed only with Conventional Weapons, they won’t make much of a difference against China. The only benefit for the Philippines with it will be in Terms of Morale, that we also have Weapons that can hit the Chinese Mainland.
But it is a shallow Reason since it won’t be that effective anyway. Using Nuclear Weapons on the Typhon has many Problems on its own, including the Fact that it will make the Philippines a definite Target for Nuclear Weapons also.
SOURCES:
* Russia's seemingly endless Stockpiles. How many long-range Missiles does Russia have left, and how have its Tactics for large-scale Strikes changed? {Archived Link}
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