MANILA, Philippines — US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday vowed to provide the Philippines with an anti-ship missile system to improve interoperability, strengthen its ability to deal with conflict and boost maritime domain awareness in the Indo-Pacific Region.

Hegseth gave this assurance in a press conference in Camp Aguinaldo where he talked about the transfer of the US Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) to the Philippines ahead of the Balikatan exercises between the two countries in April.