Naval News – On March 2, 2021, the Philippines and India signed a government-to-government agreement on defense equipment procurement, paving the way for the sale of the Brahmos missile to the Philippines.
Category Archives: PhillipineNavy
Philippine Navy Welcomes New Frigate As It Reaches Home Waters
Naval News – The Philippine Navy welcomed the future BRP Antonio Luna (FF151), its second missile-capable frigate.
Philippine Navy Takes Delivery Of Eight ScanEagle UAV
Naval News – The Philippine Navy today took delivery of a ScanEagle Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) from the United State at the US Embassy in Manila. According to local media the UAS consists of eight Unmanned Aircraft Vehicles.
Philippines Freezes Pull-Out From Visiting U.S. Forces Agreement
– USNI News – The Philippine government is putting the brakes on its plan to end a critical aspect of its Mutual Defense Treaty with the U.S., but experts say it is too soon to tell whether this decision signals a warming relationship between the two allies.
Future Philippine Navy Frigate BRP ‘Jose Rizal’ Sails Home For Commissioning
– Naval News – The Philippine Navy’s first-ever guided-missile frigate, BRP Jose Rizal (FF-150), set sails from the Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) shipyard in South Korea today, to join her homeland for the first time.
MHI To Build 2 Multi-Role Response Vessels For The Philippine Coast Guard
– Naval News – The Philippines Department of Transportation signed a procurement contract with Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for two 94-meter Multi-Role Response Vessels (MRRVs) for the Philippine Coast Guard.
Philippine minister takes to Twitter to order diplomatic protest over Chinese ships
– South China Morning Post – Beijing is stepping up its activities in the disputed South China Sea amid a swell of patriotic pride sparked by National Day celebrations, and it wants the world to see.
Philippines Pushing Back Against Chinese Militia South China Sea Presence
– USNI News – The Philippines have begun to push back against the strong and sustained presence of Beijing’s paramilitary ships in the South China Sea, calling the deployment of Chinese militia ships in huge numbers a threat.
The Deadly Evolution of Abu Sayyaf and the Sea
– CIMSEC – Illicit maritime activities are at the root of Abu Sayyaf Group funding and operations, and ensuring the group’s defeat will require focused government efforts to improve maritime security in its area of operations.
Time to Make Good on the U.S. – Philippine Alliance
– War on the Rocks – A storm is brewing in America’s oldest security alliance in the Indo-Pacific and the administration needs to act quickly to head it off.
Duterte and generals split on China rapprochement
– Nikkei Asian Review – High stakes internal battle under way over direction of Philippine foreign policy.
South China Sea: Duterte orders Philippines military to occupy islands
– CNN – Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said Thursday he has ordered military personnel to occupy all Philippines-claimed islands in the disputed South China Sea.
Wary of China, Duterte tells navy to build ‘structures’ east of Philippines
– Reuters – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the navy to put up “structures” to assert sovereignty over a stretch of water east of the country, where Manila has reported a Chinese survey ship was casing the area last year.
Philippines Tells US No Joint Patrols in South China Sea
– ABC – The Philippine defense chief said Friday he told the U.S. military that plans for joint patrols and naval exercises in the disputed South China Sea have been put on hold, the first concrete break in defense cooperation after months of increasingly strident comments by the country’s new president.
Turbulence For the Philippines: Blimps Over the South China Sea
– CIMSEC – During his recent visit to the Philippines, the United States Secretary of Defense promised delivery of a variety of sensors and communications equipment worth $42 million to the host nation. One of the critical sensors in this suite is an observation blimp that can peer across the South China Sea (SCS), providing maritime domain awareness to the Philippines.
The Philippines at Forefront of New Pentagon Maritime Security Initiative
– USNI News – The Pentagon recently began funding maritime security projects with countries in the South China Sea aimed at giving them the capability to monitor activities in their territorial waters and air space amidst concerns of regional Chinese expansion.
US reveals rare joint navy patrols with Philippines
– BBC – The United States Navy is conducting joint patrols with the Philippines in the South China Sea.
New U.S.-Philippine Basing Deal Heavy on Air Power, Light on Naval Support
– USNI News – Over the weekend, the United States and the Philippines concluded their Sixth Annual Bilateral Security Dialogue session in Washington, D.C. At that forum, one of the first fruits of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) came to bear: the announcement of five bases where the United States could rotate troops and pre-position facilities and materials in support of the U.S. Pacific Pivot.
If China’s Goliath Threatens Asia, Then Arm David
– National Interest – There is a Goliath menacing the western Pacific. China’s construction of three huge artificial islands with obvious military capacity in the South China Sea has already destabilized the security equilibrium in the region. Given the rising tensions and outright challenges to the established international security order in the western Pacific, it is time for the United States to align its Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program with its Pivot to Asia initiative, in order to strengthen the region’s Davids.
The Philippines Military Modernization Severely Snagged
– USNI News – The Philippines’ armed services modernization program took a strange and alarming turn recently as President Benigno Aquino III’s final term comes to a close.
How the Philippines Plans to Revive a Former US Naval Base
– The Diplomat – Amidst the tensions generated by China’s development of artificial islands in the South China Sea, Philippine Secretary of National Defense Voltaire Gazmin reiterated the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) plan to rehabilitate the air and naval facilities in Subic Bay Freeport in the central part of the mainland island of Luzon.
Growing The Philippines South China Sea Outpost
– USNI News – The Philippines government has begun efforts to reinforce the tiny outpost of BRP Sierra Madre, a dilapidated World War II-era landing ship deliberately beached on Second Thomas Shoal in 1999.
China sending nuclear subs
– Manila Times – Undersea patrols in West Philippine Sea may roll out by year end.
Japan, Philippines to Hold New South China Sea Naval Exercise
– The Diplomat – Tokyo and Manila are preparing for yet another joint maritime drill.
The Philippines’ Naval Build Up
– USNI News – Like many of its regional peers, the Philippines is in the midst of a defense buildup, motivated in no small part by China’s assertive moves in the western Philippine Sea and the resource-rich Spratly islands.
