US firepower showcased in Philippine joint combat drills

By JIM GOMEZ and AARON FAVILA
Associated Press

CAPAS, Philippines (AP) — Truck-mounted launchers blasted off rockets and U.S. stealth fighter jets streaked across the northern Philippine sky in a combat drill that marked the latest display of American firepower in a region where Washington has tried to deter what it warns as China’s growing aggression. The live-fire exercises in a bombing range in a valley in Capas town north of Manila on Thursday were the highlight of two weeks of combat readiness maneuvers involving more than 2,500 American and Philippine marines. The military maneuvers ending on Friday were being held simultaneously with combat drills between U.S. Marines and Japanese army forces on Japan’s Hokkaido island that involve about 3,000 military personnel from the two sides.