Navy to receive 2 helicopters from UK

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Navy is set to receive two brand new anti-submarine helicopters from the United Kingdom next week.

Navy spokesman Capt. Jonathan Zata said the two helicopters, the AgustaWestland (now Leonardo) AW-159 “Wildcats,” are on their way for delivery.

The government procured the two state-of-the-art helicopters for P5.4 billion from UK-based Leonardo in line with the Navy’s capability upgrade projects under the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) modernization program.

Navy chief Vice Admiral Robert Empedrad and defense officials were in UK last month for pre-delivery test and inspection of the two helicopters.

The anti-submarine helicopters will complement the Navy’s two missile-firing frigates, including BRP Jose Rizal also due for launching and delivery from South Korea by the end of this month.

One of the weakest navies in the region, the Philippine Navy, along with the country’s defense planners, has been aggressive in rebuilding its maritime defense capabilities.

Currently, aside from several air assets from Japan, the Navy has three locally manufactured missile-firing multi-purpose attack craft (MPACs) in its inventory, with more coming.

The scheduled delivery of the two Wildcats will now give the Navy the much-needed sub-surface eye while conducting maritime domain awareness patrol, especially in monitoring the presence of submarines encroaching on the country’s maritime domain.