The Philippine Navy’s first-ever guided-missile frigate, BRP Jose Rizal (FF-150), set sails from the Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) shipyard in South Korea today, to join her homeland for the first time. - image: navalnews.com
Philippines' BRP ‘Jose Rizal’ Departed South Korea for Home for Commissioning
The first of the Jose Rizal-class frigate, which just departed from South Korea is set to be the future newest warship of the Philippines arriving Manila on May 23, 2020.
The Jose Rizal frigate was launched in 2019 by HHI in Ulsan, South Korea. She
started sea trial near in South Korean waters in November last year.
The commission was expected originally on April 18, 2018 but due to the ongoing COVID19 pandemic, it had to be pushed back. Once commissioned, it will become the
Philippine Navy’s first-ever guided-missile frigate.
About Jose Rizal-class
The contract for the construction of two light frigates was signed between the
Philippines and HHI in October 2016, 4 months after President Rodrigo Duterte
took office. The contract was signed following the victory of HHI in an
international tender. The tender purchase value of the two ships was
determined to be 15.744571584 billion Philippine pesos (about $ 311 million).
This price point is for the ship only (weapons systems not included).
According to the shipyard, the frigates for the Philippines are based on an
HHI design, which is a smaller version of the Incheon frigates (FFX-I) being
built for the South Korean fleet. The Philippine frigates have a standard
displacement of about 2,600 tons and a length of 107 meters. The diesel main
power plant under the CODAD scheme should provide a full speed of 25 knots, a
cruising range of 4500 nautical miles at a speed of 15 knot
The Philippine frigate have four anti-ship missile launchers (presumably, for
South Korean SSM-700K Haeseong / C-Star by LIG Nex1), two SIMBAD-RC short
range SAM system by MBDA, a 76-mm main gun, one Aselsan SMASH 30mm secondary
gun, two 324-mm three-tube torpedo launchers (presumably for K745 Chung Sang
Eo / Blue Shark torpedoes by LIG Nex1). They are fitted for but not with an 8x
cell VLS for surface to air missiles. The ship has an helicopter deck and
hangar to accommodate a Leonardo AW159 Lynx Wildcat helicopter (two such
helicopters have been ordered for the Navy of the Philippines). Most of the
sensor and electronic suites are provided by Thales.
The order of these two frigates represented an historic breakthrough for the
Philippine fleet, which was so far composed of mostly ageing and outdated
escort and patrol vessels transferred (used) from the United States. As a
result, the Philippine fleet is one of the oldest in the world, and it still
includes former US ships built during the Second World War.
Martin Manaranche is based in Brittany, France. He is currently studying
Applied Foreign Languages at the Université Catholique de l'Ouest. Martin
conducted an internship at the French Navy's Ecole Navale in Brest and is
therefore particularly fond of naval defense issues.
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