Manila, April 30 -- Fighter and bomber aircraft from the Philippines and the United States conducted a combined air patrol in the West Philippine Sea on Tuesday.

Philippine Air Force (PAF) spokesperson Col. Ma. Consuelo Castillo, in a statement Tuesday night, said this activity is part of the ninth multilateral maritime cooperative activity (MMCA) between the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the US Pacific Air Forces (PACAF).

The PAF deployed three PAF FA-50PH fighter jets for this MMCA while PACAF sent a Rockwell B-1B "Lancer" strategic bomber along with two F-16s "Vipers" and a F-18 multi-role fighter for this mission.

No other details were provided for security reasons.

The B-1B is capable of speeds up to Mach 1.25 and has...