The Philippine Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has released the fourth milestone payment worth US$106 million to fund the ongoing construction of two missile corvettes in South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), the state-run PNA news agency has announced.
This latest funding package was released to the Department of National Defense (DND) on 3 April. The first three milestone payments – totalling some US$225 million – had been released from 2021 to 2023.
The DND and HHI signed the US$495 million contract for two newbuild multirole missile corvettes which are capable of conducting anti-ship, anti-submarine, and anti-air warfare missions in December 2021. It is believed that HHI is using a version of its 3,100-tonne and 114 metre-long HDC-3100 platform concept.
The first missile corvette is scheduled to be delivered to the Philippine Navy in 2025 with the second corvette expected in 2026.
The Philippine Navy’s future corvettes will be equipped with lightweight ALPHA 3D active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar systems developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).
Developed by IAI’s ELTA Division, the ALPHA 3D radar system shares technology with the larger MF-STAR radar and features a modular construction and fully digital software-driven architecture that enables it to be continuously enhanced via software updates to address new threats. The radar will be fully integrated with the combat management system (CMS) supplied by South Korea’s Hanwha Systems.
This contract marks the second major defence procurement between HHI and the Philippines. The company earlier won a bid to construct two new frigates for the navy, which are based on the Republic of Korea Navy’s Incheon (FFX-I) class platforms. Both vessels are now in service as the Jose Rizal-class.
by Jr Ng
