PA's MID to get anti-armor capability

From the Philippine News Agency (Sep 22): PA's MID to get anti-armor capability

The Philippine Army's Mechanized Infantry Division (MID) will have the capability to deal with intruding tanks with the pending arrival of the 14 M-133A2 armored personnel carriers (APCs) carrying 76mm turrets.

This was disclosed by MID public affairs office chief Major Filemon Tan at the sidelights of the firepower and maneuver demonstrations of the six APCs fitted with the brand-new .50 caliber remote-control weapon system (RCWS) at Camp O'Donnell in Capas, Tarlac on Monday.

"With the 76mm guns fitted to these APCs, we can now have the capability to deal with (intruding) tanks," he said in Filipino.

The APCs will also be armed with munitions capable of penetrating tank armor and neutralizing enemy troops in the field, Tan added.

The vehicles are expected to be delivered by next year.

Fourteen of the 28 APCs ordered from Israeli defense manufacturer Elbit Systems Ltd. will be armed with the 76mm guns which are sourced from the decommissioned Scorpion CVRTs (combat vehicle reconnaissance track) of the Philippine Army.

Four will be armed with 25mm RCWS and another four will be configured as armored recovery vehicles.

These include the six fitted with .50 caliber RCWS.

The 28-APC order deal with Elbit Systems Ltd., worth PhP 882 million, was signed on June 22, 2014.

Testing was done at the MID firing range at Camp O'Donnell, Capas, Tarlac.

The PA operates around 343 AFVs (armored fighting vehicles) and APCs.

Around 85 percent of these AFVs are on green status (fully mission capable), another 10 percent on yellow status (undergoing repair) and five percent on red (beyond repair)

About 150 of these are of the United Kingdom-built GKN "Simba" with the remaining AFVs consisting of United States-designed V-150 and V-200 APCs, M-113s, Turkish-made ACV-300s and British Scorpion CVRTs.

These vehicles give the PA its armor capability and are organized into a 14-vehicle mechanized infantry companion for deployment with regular units.

 http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=806761