Recognizing that the Philippines is facing many security threats, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief-of-staff Gen. Emmanuel T. Bautista on Wednesday said that the government is fast-tracking the acquisition of modern naval vessels and aircraft that will boost the country's defense capabilities.
"Within the last year, we realized that there is a real threat out there in terms of securing, defending our territory and we need to be very conscious about that," he said.
Aside from security threats, calamities exemplified by Supertyphoon "Yolanda" showed the urgency for the government to really finally conclude internal security issues.
".. . so that the military can focus on more pressing concerns particularly defending the nation's territory and threats brought about by climate change," the AFP chief stressed.
Bautista added that the ongoing AFP modernization is geared towards addressing all of those issues that the
The military is currently in the process of acquiring major mission essential equipment like fighters, lead in (jet) trainers, frigates, and strategic sealift vessels.
He pointed out that in 2013, the AFP acquired a lot of equipment like heavy duty cargo trucks that were used during the disaster response operations in areas devastated by "Yolanda" and three new naval helicopters alongside with the BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PF-16).
"It's part of the plan, in fact we are acquiring, we're bidding now two frigates... and so we will acquire them in a couple of years," Bautista disclosed.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=605583
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