philippine navy local made ship, philippine navy MPAC, philippine navy LCU, philippine navy landing craft utility, philippine made ship navy
Philippine spyplanes - our own version of drones
Yesterday we published the latest update of the Philippine Navy and Philippine Air Force modernization program and as I was expecting, there are several Filipinos who can't appreciate the current development and acquisition of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Some of them said that even some of those equipments are brand new still those aren't locally made.
I can't remain silent to those ridiculous crab mentality. So today I will present to you some of the locally made ships for the Philippine Navy.
Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Voltaire T. Gazmin on Saturday said that local shipyards will be given contracts to build additional ships for the country's naval force under the Philippine Navy's modernization program.
In fact, Manila-based Propmech Corporation recently presented two (2) brand new Multi-Purpose Attack Crafts(MPACs), military gun boats, to the Philippine Navy headquarters in Manila.
It took the names, BA 486 and BA 487 (see photo below) which are classified as landing assault craft and are "capable of providing a platform for fast interdiction of hostile targets, and rapid deployment and insertion of troops anywhere in the Philippines," the Navy Public Affairs Office said.
The MPAC has the following specifications:
1. 6.5 meters long, 4.76 meters wide vessel
2. top speed of 42 knots
3. can carry 20 soldiers or two tons of cargo.
4. armed with .50-caliber and two 7.62mm machine guns
5. has a range of 300 nautical miles
6. the hull was made of high-quality aluminum and was manned by one officer and four enlisted personnel per Col. Omar Tonsay, PN spokesperson
7. can operate under "Sea State 3" (slight waves) without any system degradation
Each one cost around P90 million. It has been reported that these two brand new MPACs are just an additional of the 14 existing MPACs currently in service.
Is this all that DiversityHuman.com can brag? Well, why not continue reading?
The same company built the BRP Tagbanua (AT-296), the largest and brand new Filipino naval Landing Craft Utility (LCU). It was commissioned last year. The acquisition of the Philippine-made LCU provides readily available watercraft for combat support missions such as logistics transport and amphibious operations. Movement requirements to be carried out will be readily dispatched as the vessel will cater to the AFP’s inter island and coastal operations in support to internal security operations.
Here are its specifications:
1. 15 Personnel/Crew
2. 51.43 M in length
3. Breadth 10.00 M
4. Depth 2.44 M
5. Displacement (Approx) 579 Tons
6. Speed 14 knots
7. Passenger Capacity -200 sitting passengers
8. cargo Space Area -About 250 m2 (cargo space for six 6x6 trucks or three humvees)
Check these out. Ships retrofitted by Propmech Corp.
BFAR Coast Guard (origin: Australia)
Another BFAR vessel
Just so you know, DND will shift from imported military equipment into the possibility of producing its own vessels, guns, and tanks and other military equipment way before some sectors suggested it.
To all readers of DiversityHuman.com, we don't like to demand you to patronize our own locally made products but surely we will love to hear and see you doing it on your own. So why not join and be one of us? Love our nation!
Source: Zambotimes, Yahoo news, Wikipedia, Philippine Navy official site
Related Article: Read Latest Update of the Philippine Navy and Philippine Air Force modernization program - Maestrale Warships, T-50 fighter jets, and more as of August 03, 2012 (DiversityHuman.com publication timeline)