AFP buying submarines under modernization plan

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte has approved a five-year plan to spend P300 billion to modernize the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), including the purchase of submarines, defense officials said yesterday.

Defense department spokesman Arsenio Andolong said the Duterte administration is speeding up the process of buying submarines under the Second Horizon Phase of the AFP Modernization Program from 2018 to 2022.

He said the purchase of submarines was originally under the Third Horizon Phase of the AFP Modernization Program but was moved up to the Second Horizon as a priority defense program.

“We want to get submarines as soon as possible,” he said.

Other items to be purchased include multi-role fighter aircraft, long-range patrol aircraft, helicopters, more frigates, combat engineering equipment and other military needs valued roughly at P300 billion.

Duterte had set aside $1 billion for new helicopters and light tanks, but no purchases have been made yet.

The Philippines has received donated military hardware from Australia, China, Japan, Russia and the United States, mostly to assist in disaster response and fighting militants and pirates.

A previous 15-year upgrade plan failed to take off in the mid-1990s, leaving the Philippines with outdated hardware, including warships from World War Two and helicopters used by the US in the Vietnam War.

With President Duterte’s approval, Andolong said the DND and the Department of Budget and Mangement (DBM) will have to talk on how to fund the projects. 

“I believe we really need submarines because it’s an equalizer in terms of our arsenal,” Andolong stressed.

Andolong explained the Second Horizon defense phase is the transition period from internal security operations to territorial defense.

Arming the Navy with submarines would mean the Philippines would be joining the exclusive club of countries with such capability, he said.

Andolong said there are two symbols of force or power projection in the navy – aircraft carriers and submarines – and submarines are hard to detect and can sink aircraft carriers if one can get close enough.

The previous administration of Benigno Aquino III spent about $1.7 billion on the military during its 2010-2016 term in office, including 12 fighter jets.                  

Duterte has approved the $5.6-billion modernization plan following a meeting with top defense and military officials last month.