The Philippine Navy is looking to procure 10 more Acero gunboats in the next stage of Manila’s military modernization program according to a presentation unveiled by the country’s military chief.
While Gen. Romero Brawner, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, did not provide details on the project, a slide confirmed that the planned procurement of Fast Attack Interdiction Craft was under “other modernization efforts.”
If pursued, the project follows a defense deal between the Philippines and Israel in 2021 that covered nine patrol gunboats derived from the Israel Shipyard Ltd. Shaldag Mk V design. Dubbed by the Philippine Navy as the Acero-class patrol gunboat, named after Philippine Marine Nestor F. Acero, these vessels will replace the service’s older patrol boats in the Littoral Combat Force. Of the nine vessels, five are armed with Rafael’s Spike NLOS. The Horizon Two modernization project also covered a transfer of technology that enables the Philippine Navy to maintain and assemble the vessels in-country at Cavite Naval Base.
The Acero Gunboats have been deployed across the Philippines, including Thitu Island in the South China Sea and Southern Mindanao. While they have a similar range to the Jose Andrada class coastal patrol craft, which they will supplement and eventually replace, the Israeli-designed patrol boats can reach speeds up to 40 knots. They also allow the Littoral Combat Force to expand its reach beyond the country’s internal waters, which the Offshore Combat Force has traditionally covered. Two Acero gunboats drilled in an island retaking drill in the South China Sea last November.
These efforts, which included aspirations to purchase two submarines that Brawner claimed would be needed to effectively defend the nation’s archipelagic waters, are slated under the third phase of Manila’s military modernization program. Dubbed Horizon Three, the modernization efforts aim to bring the Armed Forces of the Philippines from an internally oriented force to one that can face conventional challenges, such as those in the South China Sea.
