FACT CHECK: Image Claims To Show US Weapon Shipment To Philippines

An image shared on Facebook claims to show a United States weapons shipment to the Philippines after a recent incident in the West Philippine Sea with China.

Verdict: False

The image shows U.S. humanitarian aid to Ukraine, not the Philippines.

Fact Check:

Social media users have been sharing images of weapons, claiming it shows US weapon shipments to the Philippines. These posts have been swirling since an incident between China and the Philippines. The incident saw the Chinese Coast Guard forcibly boarding Philippine Navy boats and seizing weapons, according to France 24.

The social media post partially reads:

“In a major operation, the United States flew thousands of munitions, weapons and other military equipment to the Philippines. The flight was conducted by the US Air Force’s 60th Air Port Squadron, which loaded cargo onto a Boeing 737 aircraft at Travis Air Force Base, California today. The aircraft is scheduled to land at Clark military base in the Philippines. Thousands of cargo are loaded onto a Boeing 737 aircraft at Travis Air Force Base, California on June 22, 2024. The plane will land at Clark military base in the Philippines in the near future.”

This claim is false. Through a reverse image search, Check Your Fact found that the first image is from a video showing a humanitarian aid mission posted to the U.S. Marine Corps website.

“Humanitarian aid cargo bound for Ukraine is loaded onboard an aircraft during a foreign military sales mission at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, July 29, 2022,” partially reads the description. (RELATED: Video Claims To Show Netanyahu Watching Hezbollah Leader’s Speech)

The second and third images were from a posted to the on February 10, 2022. It is also related to Ukraine, with the video description reading,”Dover Air Force Base, Delaware hosted Oksana Markarova, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the United States, Feb. 10, 2022, during a foreign military sales mission.”

A spokesperson for the Armed Forces of the Philippines told AFP Fact Check that there “was no event on June 22, 2024, where thousands of US military cargo were flown from California to Clark air base.”