MANILA: The Philippines is set to buy two Maestrale-class frigates from Italy, a defence official said yesterday, as the Asian nation races to upgrade its military amid mounting territorial disputes with China.
The frigates, along with 12 FA-50 fighter aircraft, are the most significant items on the government’s P75bn ($1.7bn) military modernisation budget over the next five years, Defence Undersecretary Fernando Manalo said. “We are modernising not because we want to go to war with China,” he told a news conference.
He said the government had a sworn obligation to defend the “West Philippine Sea,” using the government’s preferred term for Philippine-claimed areas in the South China Sea.
The frigates would add to two refurbished Hamilton-class cutters formerly used by the US Coast Guard that the Philippines acquired from its US ally to upgrade its ageing navy fleet, which includes some vessels that first saw action in the Second World War.
Meanwhile, the government had alloted 18.9 billion pesos to acquire the fighter aircraft, which are built by South Korea, he added.
The modernisation budget also provides for building or improving facilities to berth and provide maintenance to the vessels on the military’s shopping list, Manalo said. AFP
