Navy to receive state of the art P4-B sealift vessels by 2016

From the Manila Bulletin (Jan 31): Navy to receive state of the art P4-B sealift vessels by 2016

Construction of the Philippine Navy’s (PN) future strategic sealift vessels (SSVs) has kicked off in Surabaya, Indonesia, where Navy flag officer-in-command (FOIC) Vice Admiral Jesus C. Millan attended last week the first steel cutting ceremony to signal the start of construction of the vessels at  PT PAL Indonesia (Persero).

The “Strategic Sealift Acquisition Project for the Philippine Navy” was initiated upon the approval of the acquisition decision memorandum by the Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin in October 2013.

It is a two-unit SSV procurement project with an approved budget contract of P4 billion sourced from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Modernization Act Trust Fund.

The Department of National Defense declared PT Pal Indonesia (Persero) as the single calculated responsive bidder with a bidding price of P3,870,000,000 on November 18, 2014.

Commodore Lued L. Lincuna, director, Naval Public Affairs Office (NPAO), said that the Navy is expecting the first and second SSV to be delivered not later than May 2016 and May 2017, respectively.

Lincuna said the SSVs are programmed to be the Navy’s floating command center carrying out their main purpose as military sealift and transport vessels and also for humanitarian assistance and disaster response.

These vessels are also critical assets for civil-military operations (CMO) due to their capability of transporting large number of soldiers, logistics, and supplies.

Each SSV has the capacity to house three helicopters. The Navy’s Augusta Westland-109s are programmed to be on-board components of these vessels.

“These forthcoming Landing Platform Dock Strategic Sealift vessels will improve the capacity of the Philippine Navy and boost the defense capabilities of the country,” said Lincuna.

Millan headed the Philippine delegation which consisted of Rear Admiral Romeo Santiago Nebres, Commodore Narciso Vingson, Jr. and Captain Alberto Carlos, among others.

http://www.mb.com.ph/navy-to-receive-state-of-the-art-p4-b-sealift-vessels-by-2016/