AFP eyes buying China’s bendable rifles

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is now looking at buying specialized weapons from China, including bendable rifles that can shoot around corners and small remote- controlled tank-like vehicles that can approach and detonate bombs.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, speaking to reporters in a press briefing at Camp Aguinaldo yesterday, appeared quite excited at the thought of acquiring for the AFP such advanced weapons that are usually seen only in science fiction movies and video games.

China has given the Philippines a $ 14- million grant to purchase new equipment for the country’s military.

Lorenzana said the Department of National Defense has submitted a list of some items to procure, including fast boats that can be used against the Abu Sayyaf group and drones that can be used by tactical units.

But he appears more excited at the thought of buying bendable long firearms that can shoot around corners without exposing the shooter.

“The rifle that can be bended so the shooter’s head would not be exposed, the one with a screen here and looks like this,” Lorenzana, a retired military general, said while describing the tactical firearm that can be used in hostage situations. “We’re trying to get some of those. Maybe it will be very useful to us in our urban warfare against the terrorists. We can use those in Metro Manila.”

Lorenzana is also excited at the thought of buying an anti-bomb tank-like, unmanned armored vehicle for the AFP.

“We do not have that yet. Some countries in the Asian region had that in the past 10 years, we don’t. We still let our people go near bombs,” he said.

The $14-million grant from China, roughly P720 million, is not much but is there for the taking with no strings attached “so we might as well take advantage,” he added.

Apart from the specialized equipment from China, Lorenzana said the Philippines would also be buying weapons from Russia, including the specialized sniper rifles.

“The Russian defense ministry has offered us a lot of things – ships, submarines, aircraft and helicopters. We will look into that because we should buy in accordance with our modernization plan. I told our people in charge with modernization to buy smart,” the defense chief said.

“We should be wise in buying the equipment we need. It should last long, has good quality and would suit the needs of our people on the ground because President (Duterte) also reminded me to involve the people who will actually use the equipment. We cannot just buy the equipment and ram them down their throat and tell them to use this even if they don’t like it,” he added.

Lorenzana said Russia has offered to sell submarines but the government is still deciding if the country really needs such materiel, instead of just buying for the sake of telling the world that the Philippines has a submarine.

But he said the defence department is evaluating Russia’s offer to sell some advanced diesel-electric submarines to determine if these are essential for AFP modernization and if the country can afford to acquire and maintain the materiel.

The Philippines is the only country in the region that has no submarine fleet. Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand have their own.

The acquisition of the diesel-electric class submarines was proposed under Horizon II of the AFP modernization program. The Philippine Navy has also started training men to become part of a submarine force.