The United States is discussing the possible deployment of more missile launchers to the Philippines to strengthen deterrence against aggression in the disputed South China Sea and other security hotspots,

It’s hard to call the collision of two multi-thousand-ton military ships “fortunate,” but that’s exactly what analysts are saying about the incident in the South China Sea this week that left a China Coast Guard ship with a heavily damaged bow after it hit a People’s Liberation Army Navy guided-missile destroyer.

Footage shows a Chinese coast guard vessel chasing a Philippine boat and then ramming a Chinese warship. It was the latest confrontation in the contested waters.