The Philippine Navy (PN) said that having strategic sea-lift
vessels (SSVs) in its inventory will greatly boost the defense and humanitarian
assistance capabilities of the naval service.
This was disclosed by PN public affairs office chief Cmdr.
Lued Lincuna as PT PAL (Persero), the Indonesian shipbuilder who won the
contract for the two ships, is now making steady progress in the construction
of the SSVs at its Surabaya
"It (SSVs) will definitely boost the defense
capabilities of (our country). It will be the PN's command center carrying out
their main purpose as military sea-lift and transport vessel, and for
humanitarian assistance and disaster relief," he added.
Lincuna also stressed that SSVs are critical assets for
civil-military operations due to its capability of transporting large numbers
of soldiers, logistics, and supplies.
These ships also have the capability to house three
helicopters which could be use for search-and-rescue missions.
Steel-cutting for the first SSV took place last Jan. 22,
while steel-cutting for the second unit took place last June 6.
The first SSV is expected to be delivered on May 2016 while
the second one is slated for May 2017.
The strategic sea-lift acquisition project for the PN was
initiated upon the approval of Acquisition Decision Memorandum Number 2012-060
by the Secretary of National Defense last Oct. 30, 2013.
The Department of National Defense declared Persero as the
Single Calculated Responsive Bidder with a bidding price of Php3,870,000,000 on
Nov. 18, 2014.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=771007
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