Navy set to receive second warship from South Korea
THE Navy is expecting the arrival of its second brandnew frigate next month to complete the acquisition of a pair of newly built warships from South Korea under the second phase of its capability upgrade program.
Navy chief Vice Admiral Giovanni Carlo Bacordo said the BRP Antonio Luna (FF151), which was built by South Korean Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), should drop anchor in Philippine waters by the third week of February, thus giving the Navy its second brand-new missile-capable warship.
“[She] is expected in February. There is no schedule yet, but it’s in the third week of February,” Bacordo said, noting that the frigate should have been delivered on February 10 had it not been postponed due to the Covid-19 that also hit Korea.
The Del Pilar’s sister ship, BRP Jose Rizal, was already delivered by HHI, and was christened into the service by the Navy, with its baptism of fire in the form of a naval exercise courtesy of the world’s biggest and largest naval war games, the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC), which was held in Hawaii last year.
The delivery of the Jose Rizal,
which is fully capable of fighting in all spheres of asymmetric warfare, saw the dawning of the missile age for the Navy.
Meanwhile, a statement from the Navy said its frigate technical inspection team began on Tuesday its “final inspection” of Antonio Luna
in Ulsan, South Korea.
“For verification/validation is the contractor’s strict compliance to the agreed Technical Specifications and Build Specifications [TS&BS] in building and equipping PN [Philippine Navy] Frigate 2,” it said.
“Initial reports from PN owner’s representative headed by Capt. Sergio Bartolome PN state that PN Frigate 2 is almost 100 percent complete and has satisfactorily passed harbor and sea trials. However, due to travel restrictions and production disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, some training activities and ILS deliveries have been delayed. Hence, completion dates and delivery schedules have been adjusted,” it added.