The Philippines is being wooed by different submarine producing
countries.
Ever since the country announced in the middle of this year that we are
already contemplating in getting a submarine that will make our own Philippine
Navy (PN) at par at least with other South East Asian countries, other
countries have taken notice.
Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam are the countries in the
ASEAN region that have existing submarine fleet and considering the volatile
issue in the Western Philippine Sea with the different countries that has its
own claim, all the more we need a country to upgrade our naval capabilities.
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| A diesel powered submarine is the dream of the Philippines to have in the near future( photo credit to owner) |
"Kailangan din naman natin (ang diesel-electric
submarines) yan para meron naman tayong (deterrent and) security,kasi
yung mga kapitbahay natin may mga submarines na eh, Malaysia,
Indonesia, pati Singapore na napakaliit na bansa, at saka Vietnam, tayo
na lang wala dito (We need diesel-electric submarines so we have a
deterrent and security. It's because our neighbors already have submarines.
Malaysia, Indonesia, even a small country like Singapore. Vietnam also has
submarines. It is only us who do not have it)," DND Sec said last June in
an interview.
During a press conference recently after the successful capability
demonstration of the PN’s newly-acquired and installed Rafael Advance Defense
Ltd. Spike-ER (extended range) surface to surface missile system, he said that
a lot of countries have made their intention known to sell the country their
respective submarines.
"Marami (a lot of nations like) Russia, Sweden,
France, (South) Korea, Japan, everybody that has capabilities (in producing
submarines) (are) interested in selling (submarines) to us, even the US (United
States)," Lorenzana added.
Lorenzana told mediamen that they are still studying all the offers to
determine which is the best one for the county.
The DND admits that the acquisition and maintenance
of submarine are expensive and will also require infrastructures like basing
and intense training for the crew to be at their best.
"Submarines are a very expensive equipment (to maintain and
operate), lahat ng mga bansa diyan sinasabi na mahal, very
expensive (all countries operating such craft say that they are expensive) and bago
ka makabili ng submarines (before you can buy) submarines, (you must
think first about building a base to house them) and you also have to train
people," Lorenzana added
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