The Philippine Army (PA) will receive its own
‘gift” this Christmas.
And here we are thinking that only the
Philippine Air Force (PAF) and the Philippine Navy (PN) are the only ones
having a muvh delayed equipment upgrade.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) announced that the Philippine Army would now for the first time have and operate its own “real and “modern tanks in the postwar era.”
The AFP is expecting the
delivery this month of the 20 Israeli tanks that would be turned over to the
Philippine Army’s Division based on Camp O’Donnell in Capas town, Tarlac
province.
Col. Anthon Abrina, the Armor Division’s
chief of staff, said the military purchased from Israel the Sabrah Ascod light
tanks mounted with 105-millimeter guns, Pandur II Armored Personnel Carriers
(APCs) with 105-mm cannons and APCs armed with automated 120-mm carriers, as
part of the ongoing AFP modernization program.
“Ito ’yung tangke talaga
(These are real tanks). What we have now in our inventory are APCs” mounted
with low-caliber firearms, Abrina said.
From left, the Sabrah Ascod tank is based on the tracked ASCOD platform manufactured by General Dynamics European Land Systems, and on the wheeled Pandur II vehicle.
(photo credit to ower)
Upgrade for Territorial Defense
The Sabrah Ascod light tanks are mounted with
heavier-caliber firearms that were similar to the weapons that the AFP used
during the five-month siege and retaking of Marawi City from Islamic
State-aligned terrorists in 2017, he added.Lt. Col. Zam Taguba, public affairs
officer of the Armor Division, also explained that while the Army only has
APCs, these were categorized as tanks as these were mounted with weapons.
“Those that are arriving
will be the first light tanks for the whole Armed Forces because its deployment
would be more [centered] on territorial defense,” he said in a phone interview
on Sunday. The current inventory of APCs are for internal security operations,
he added.
“Currently we have more than
400 APCs of different variants like Simba Fighting Vehicle, V150 commando,
Armored Infantry Fighting vehicle, and the M113 A1 and A2. The Sabrah Ascod and
Pandur light tanks are the first modern tanks we will have postwar era,” Taguba
added.
For 2022, the PA is expecting its six-wheeled
armored vehicles to replace the military’s four-wheeled tanks, Abrina said.
Top Army officers visited Israel this month
to see the weapons being made available to the country, he said. “We know
Israel produces advanced and state-of-the-art [weapon] systems,” Abrina said.
Ten (10) more light tanks
are set to arrive by 2023, Abrina said.
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