Aside from acquiring more potent naval vessels to protect the country's vast maritime territories, efforts are also underway to modernize the various bases, shipyards and dry-docks being operated by the Philippine Navy (PN), a ranking official said Tuesday.
Commodore Jose Renan C. Suarez, Navy Patrol Force commander, said improvement of bases and other support infrastructures is part of the PN's capability upgrade program.
He added that this aims to improve the maintenance capability of the PN which will allow it to maintain and upgrade the new ships on its own.
"Having these (maintenance) capabilities will allow us to extend the life cycle of our brand-new by another 30 years," Suarez emphasized.
He also clarified that most navies, due to the high costs of naval vessels, are more interested in upgrades and retro-fitting as this is more cheaper and faster than acquiring newly constructed vessels.
Suarez earlier said that the two brand-new frigates which the Department of National Defense is acquiring for P18-billion is definitely more superior and heavily armed that the two Hamilton-class cutters in PN service.
He added that ships are equipped with radar, sonar, and electronic warfare systems and can engage airborne, surface and underwater threats simultaneously.
Aside from these surveillance and detection equipment, the frigates are also armed with anti-ship and anti-air missiles and a main gun capable of firing 120 rounds per minute aside from a torpedo system.
As of the moment, the Hamilton-class cutters in Philippine service are only armed with a 76mm main gun which can fire 60 to 80 rounds per minute.
Suarez said that these ships are part of the PN's "Navy Frigate Program" which has a timeline of 2013 to 2017.
He added that these ships are designed with numerous upgrades cycle to ensure that they will remain relevant and competitive against new vessels coming in line.
Suarez said that these ships will greatly enhanced PN's capabilities to defend the country's vast maritime territories.
He added that these ships will also greatly aid the two Hamilton-class cutters in service, BRP Gregorio Del Pilar (PF-15) and BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PF-16), in their patrol and monitoring work once in commission at the PN.
Plans are afoot to upgrade the BRP Gregorio Del Pilar and BRP Ramon Alcaraz to make them more capable in their maritime domain awareness mission.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=574379
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