Page 9 - ADT APRIL 2022 Online Magazine

The Navy took its delivery of French-made
Mistral 3 surface-to-air missiles for its two frig-
ates, making it for the first time for the military
to get hold of such a weapon. The two ships
would also be equipped with South Korean- [ REPORT ]
made C-Star missiles.

The Philippine Navy (PN) also plans to acquire
six offshore patrol vessels (OPVs). The OPVs
from Austal will significantly boost the Navy’s
maritime patrols around the Philippine archi-
pelago. Lorenzana said the ships will be built in
the Austal facility in Balamban, Cebu province.

The Navy also plans to buy a pair of subma-
rines, possibly the French-made Scorpene
class. The Navy is set to soon retire three
World War 2 ships—BRP Miguel Malvar (PS-
19), BRP Magat Salamat (PS-20) and BRP
COOPERATION DESPITE THE CHALLENGES OF THE Mangyan (AS-71)—as it transitions to a modern
fleet. However, Joshua Espeña, a resident
ONGOING PANDEMIC. THE SIGNING OF THE fellow at the International Development and
CORVETTE LOT 1 ACQUISITION PROJECT WITH Security Cooperation (IDSC) and a lecturer at
HHI, THE SAME COMPANY WHICH BUILT THE the Polytechnic University of the Philippines,
PHILIPPINES' TWO JOSE RIZAL-CLASS GUIDED- noted that despite all this investment, the PN
remains under-resourced compared to its most
MISSILE FRIGATES, WILL ENSURE COMMONALITY likely adversary in a conflict, the Chinese navy.
AND INTEROPERABILITY, ESPECIALLY IN EASE OF
MAINTENANCE AND REPAIRS. THE TWO SHIPS It currently has two aircraft carriers and a hand-
WILL ALSO SERVE AS BACKSTOPS FOR THE TWO ful of frigates, destroyers, corvettes, destroyers,
FRIGATES NOW IN COMMISSION WITH THE and submarines, many of which are employed
in the South China Sea. “This is not even to
PHILIPPINE NAVY,” he noted. mention the relentless work of the Chinese
navy to improve its combat readiness or its
Each of the corvettes will weigh 3,200 tons and measure 116 meters conventional and nuclear missile capabilities.
long. They will be able to reach a maximum speed of 25 knots and Its hypersonic missiles in particular introduce
a cruising speed of 15 knots, with a range of 4,500 nautical miles. complexity to any possible battleground,” he
Each will have eight anti-ship missile launchers, a 35-mm close-in added.
weapon system, a 76-mm main gun, two three-tube torpedo launch-
ers and an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, HHI
said. Army Fire Power
Early this year, the Philippines officially become
the first foreign nation to acquire the potent
Indian-Russian BrahMos supersonic anti-ship
missile. The Philippines Ministry of Defense
accepted a BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd pro-
posal to supply the shore-based anti-ship
missile system for the price of US$374 mil-
lion. The South East Asian nation will acquire
three batteries of the BrahMos cruise missile.
India will commence training of the Philippines
armed forces on operating the supersonic
Brahmos missile system from July. The Army
will also have its new artilleries and 155 howit-
zers, as disclosed by the Armed Forces Chief
of Staff Lt. Gen. Andres Centino. The Army’s
Armor Division will also have its first new light
tanks from Israel.

ASIAN DEFENCE TECHNOLOGY April 2022 | 9