Decision to acquire Russian weaponry dependent on AFP requirements

From the Philippine News Agency (Sep 27): Decision to acquire Russian weaponry dependent on AFP requirements

The decision to acquire weaponry from Russia weaponry will depend on whether the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has a specific need for the weapons and whether it is capable of using its existing logistics system to maintain the said arms.

This was stressed by AFP public affairs office chief Col. Edgard Arevalo in press briefing Tuesday.

Prior to any moves to acquire Russian weapons, a technical-working group (TWG) must be first deployed to determine whether these armaments are suitable for the AFP's requirements, he added.

Deployment of TWG is standard procedure as the AFP is the end-user of these armaments, Arevalo stressed.

Earlier, Department of National Defense (DND) public affairs office chief Arsenio Andolong said the decision to look into Russia and China as possible source of equipment for the AFP is mandated under the law.

Specifically, he was referring to Republic Act 9184 also known as Government Procurement Reform Act.

"(Looking for new countries to acquire new military equipment) is provided for in Republic Act 9184. The law dictates that we must not limit possible sources of our materiel to only a few countries as this will rob us of the opportunity to acquire what could be the best equipment," Andolong added.

In line with this, technical working groups of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines have been continuously been conducting market research on new hardware and technologies from many countries including Russia and China, he added.

"For the record, we also looked at the offerings from Sweden, Germany and France," he added.

This is in wake of President Rodrigo Duterte's announcement that Russia and China have agreed to provide armaments and other weaponry to the AFP for its counter-insurgency campaign.

"Of course, there are other considerations such as cost, inter-operability with our existing equipment and personnel capacity," Andolong pointed out.

The Philippines has traditionally sourced its military equipment from the US, Israel, South Korea, and Japan, to name a few.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=926526