US Sends One of Its Last Wooden Minehunters to Philippine Maritime Cooperative Activity

The Armed Forces of the Philippines and the U.S. Navy conducted a Maritime Cooperative Activity (MCA) inside the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) on October 14, 2026, pairing the Avenger-class mine countermeasures ship USS Warrior (MCM 10) with the Philippine Navy guided-missile frigate BRP Miguel Malvar (FFG 06) and the Philippine Coast Guard multi-role response vessel BRP Melchora Aquino (MRRV 9702).

MCAs have become the alliance’s routine tool for combined presence across the Philippine EEZ, parts of which Beijing also claims. U.S. 7th Fleet numbered its September 12 to 13 iteration with Canada as the 11th of 2026; the October 14 release assigned no number and did not say where in the EEZ the units operated. The Armed Forces of the Philippines, which keeps its own count, described the event as the 16th bilateral MCA and placed it in the West Philippine Sea. Other 2026 iterations publicized by 7th Fleet centered on a destroyer, the fleet flagship USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19), Coast Guard cutters and P-8A Poseidon patrol aircraft; this one brought a dedicated minehunter.

Inside the Philippine-US Maritime Cooperative Activity Force Package

According to 7th Fleet, the event refined shared specialized procedures and maritime doctrines, with emphasis on tactical interoperability and maritime domain awareness, and included a group sail to build at-sea proficiency. The release said the event built on earlier MCAs and was conducted with due regard for the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations. Philippine military statements relayed by local media add that the at-sea portion featured passing honors and a photo exercise, with an AW109 helicopter operating from Miguel Malvar.

Alongside the frigate and the coast guard vessel, the release lists one AW159 Wildcat helicopter and one Cessna 208 Caravan as Philippine Air Force assets. Open-source records indicate that the country’s two AW159s, delivered in May 2019 under a contract of about 5.4 billion pesos, are operated by the Philippine Navy’s Naval Air Wing through Squadron MH-40 and are equipped to carry Spike Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) missiles and Blue Shark lightweight torpedoes. Publicly available specifications indicate the Miguel Malvar class was designed to embark the type, with an enclosed hangar sized for a 10-tonne helicopter and a flight deck rated for 12 tonnes. The release did not specify the Caravan’s role.

That combination, a missile frigate with organic anti-submarine helicopter support, a white-hull law enforcement vessel and fixed-wing surveillance, mirrors the layered posture Manila uses at sea, where the coast guard carries the constabulary presence mission and the navy provides deterrent depth.

USS Warrior and the Navy’s Last Avenger-Class Minehunters

Warrior is one of four Avenger-class ships still in U.S. service, all forward-deployed to Commander, Fleet Activities Sasebo, Japan, under Mine Countermeasures Squadron 7. Commissioned in April 1993, the ship arrived in Sasebo in March 2013 to replace USS Guardian (MCM 5), which ran aground on Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu Sea in January 2013 and was dismantled on site.

The class was built around low signature rather than speed or firepower. Its hull is wood sheathed in glass-reinforced plastic, a construction that keeps the magnetic signature low. Publicly available specifications list a length of 224 feet (68.3 meters), a full-load displacement of 1,312 tons and a top speed of 14 knots from four Isotta Fraschini diesels rated at 600 horsepower each. The mission suite combines the AN/SQQ-32 minehunting sonar, the AN/SLQ-48 Mine Neutralization System, AN/SLQ-37(V)3 magnetic and acoustic influence sweep gear and Oropesa mechanical sweep equipment. Defensive armament is limited to two .50-caliber machine guns, and the Navy cites a crew of nearly 90 sailors.

That design matters operationally. The Navy decommissioned its four Bahrain-based Avengers in 2025 and replaced them with three Independence-class littoral combat ships (LCS) carrying the mine countermeasures mission package. Because the LCS has an aluminum hull, it must operate outside a mined area and send unmanned systems into it, whereas a wooden Avenger can work in or near the threat zone. Navy officials indicated in January 2026 that the Sasebo Avengers are also set to be replaced by Independence-class LCS.

Miguel Malvar Frigate Anchors the Philippine Surface Contribution

Miguel Malvar is the lead ship of a two-ship class built by HD Hyundai Heavy Industries under a contract signed on December 28, 2021, and was commissioned on May 20, 2025. Publicly available specifications indicate a displacement of 3,200 tons, a length of 118.4 meters and a combined diesel and diesel (CODAD) plant of four MTU 20V 1163 M94 engines producing 29,600 kilowatts, for a top speed of 25 knots and a range of 4,500 nautical miles at 15 knots.

Armament brings vertical launch capability to the Philippine fleet: a 16-cell vertical launch system for MBDA VL MICA surface-to-air missiles, eight LIG Nex1 SSM-700K C-Star anti-ship missiles in two quadruple launchers with a reported range beyond 95 nautical miles, two triple 324 mm launchers for K745 Blue Shark torpedoes, a 76 mm OTO Melara Super Rapid gun and an Aselsan Gökdeniz 35 mm close-in weapon system.

Melchora Aquino, commissioned on June 12, 2022, is the second Teresa Magbanua-class vessel built by Mitsubishi Shipbuilding to a modified Japan Coast Guard Kunigami-class design and financed through a Japanese development loan. It adds endurance rather than firepower: open-source figures give a length of 97 meters, a displacement of about 2,260 tons, two 6,600-kilowatt diesels for 24 knots, a range of 4,000 nautical miles at 12 knots, a hangar for a medium helicopter and a crew of 67.

Analysis: Bringing a wooden minehunter into an MCA shifts the alliance’s signaling from presence toward access. Mines remain the cheapest way to close archipelagic straits and port approaches, and the Philippine Navy does not operate dedicated mine countermeasures ships. Sailing Warrior alongside a frigate with organic helicopter support suggests 7th Fleet wants Philippine units accustomed to operating around MCM assets before the Avengers leave service. The open question is whether the LCS-based replacement, which must stand off from mined water, can deliver the same forward role from Sasebo.

7th Fleet has not announced the next MCA, but at least 11 publicly numbered iterations through mid-September point to further activities before year-end. Key unknowns include the timeline for replacing the Sasebo Avengers and whether future iterations will bring other mine countermeasures assets into Philippine waters.