The planned live-fire sinking exercise (SINKEX) of a decommissioned warship at the Balikatan exercise in the Philippines was struck a blow after the ship in question sank before participants had a chance to pummel it with weapons. At the time of its sinking, the World War II-era corvette BRP Miguel Malvar (PS-19) was being positioned at the start of the exercise, which continued regardless, as part of the wider Balikatan 2025 maneuvers involving the United States, the Philippines, and Australia.
The Miguel Malvar began taking on water in rough sea conditions in a location around 30 nautical miles west of San Antonio, Zambales, Philippines. It sank at 7:20 a.m. local time, shortly before the Maritime Strike (MARSTRIKE) exercise was scheduled to begin.
No personnel were injured in the incident, the Philippine Navy confirmed.
According to a Philippine Navy spokesperson, the Miguel Malvar sank just four nautical miles from its intended position for MARSTRIKE.
The decommissioned corvette had been selected as the target for the drills on account of its age. The vessel had also undergone environmental cleaning and preparation before it was towed out of its final harbor in Sangley Point, Cavite City. Towing was conducted at speeds of between two and five knots.
The Philippine Navy spokesperson confirmed that the vessel hadn’t been damaged while under tow, but “due to rough sea conditions that we are currently experiencing in the exercise box and with its long service life, as is expected, she took on a significant amount of water and eventually sank.” The vessel is much smaller than what we are accustomed to seeing in major SINKEX drills, but does represent the smaller military patrol boats and corvettes that call littorals in this area of the world home.
The 914-ton displacement and 184.5-foot-long Miguel Malvar had a long and eventful history, having originally been launched and commissioned in 1944 as the USS Brattleboro (PCE(R)-852), a PCE(R)-848 class rescue patrol craft escort. The warship saw active duty in World War II, in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters, including anti-submarine patrols during the invasion of the Philippines and later at Okinawa. After the war, Brattleboro went into the reserve before being converted for trials duty, testing infrared equipment, communications equipment, sonar, and others.
Brattleboro was decommissioned in 1965 and then transferred to the South Vietnam Navy, serving as RVN Ngọc Hồi (HQ-12). With the fall of Saigon in 1975, the vessel escaped to the Philippines, was overhauled, and had armament reinstated. The warship was commissioned by the Philippine Navy in 1977 as the Miguel Malvar. The 1990s saw the vessel undergo a major overhaul, including refitting of weapons and sensors, but it was finally decommissioned in 2021.
“The MARSTRIKE remains unchanged as part of Balikatan 40-2025’s command post exercise, where the Armed Forces of the Philippines and U.S. joint task forces will rehearse virtual and constructive fire missions,” the Philippine Navy said, in the wake of the incident.
Despite the loss of the target ship, “elements of the scheduled MARSTRIKE live-fire event will occur and the combined force will still achieve its training objectives,” the Philippine Navy added. “The Notice to Mariners and Notice to Airmen surrounding the MARSTRIKE location remains in effect.”
As part of the broader Balikatan 40-2025 exercises, the MARSTRIKE saw the integration of Philippine and U.S. ground, maritime, and air-based sensors and shooters into a combined, joint fires network. The Australian Defense Force was also involved.
Ahead of the MARSTRIKE event, the U.S. Marine Corps had confirmed to TWZ that “air and maritime-based kinetic fires” would be used to target the decommissioned ship but didn’t provide further details.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy provided a list of air assets, some or all of which were expected to take part in the MARSTRIKE. These comprised U.S. Marine Corps F/A-18C/D Hornets and MV-22B Ospreys, and Philippine Air Force FA-50 light combat aircraft, A-29 Super Tucano light-attack turboprops, and T129 ATAK combat helicopters.
As you can read about here, Marine Hornets have an increasingly important maritime strike role in the Indo-Pacific area of operations, with their armament including AGM-84D Harpoon anti-ship missiles.
On the maritime side, the Philippine Navy previously confirmed that it planned to fire its LIG Nex 1 C-Star anti-ship missiles during the MARSTRIKE. These South Korean-made subsonic sea-skimming missiles arm the Philippine Navy warships, BRP Jose Rizal (FF-150) and BRP Antonio Luna (FF-151), the most modern in that country’s fleet. The Philippine Navy previously employed the C-Star in the live-fire component of Balikatan last year, targeting a decommissioned tanker.
Meanwhile, Philippine Navy Mistral shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles would be fired for the first time from the same warships, part of the air defense component of the maneuvers. Other Philippine Navy missiles slated for live fire during Balikatan include the Spike NLOS, which arms its Acero class fast attack craft.
Also included in Balikatan for the first time is the U.S. Marine Corps’ Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS), armed with Naval Strike Missiles that are mounted on Joint Light Tactical Vehicles. During the exercise, NMESIS was deployed by U.S. Air Force C-130s to an operating position on Batan Island, although, from here, its range of around 110 nautical miles would have put it out of reach of the Miguel Malvar. You can read more about NMESIS and the significance of its deployment in the Philippines here.
With China asserting its claims over the South China Sea with increasing aggression, including repeated clashes with Philippine maritime forces, the annual Balikatan drills are becoming more important in the context of U.S.-Philippine cooperation. Even without its main target, the MARSTRIKE will have provided a useful opportunity to practice integration between the U.S. military and two of its key allies in the Indo-Pacific region.
Nevertheless, the premature sinking of the Miguel Malvar remains unfortunate, depriving those forces of a valuable chance to gather data about weapon effectiveness as part of an end-to-end live-fire exercise.
Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com