WASHINGTON – The Philippines needs up to four squadrons (48) of upgraded Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jets, more well-armed frigates and corvette-size, fast to surface combatant vessels and minesweepers and four to six mini submarines, possibly obtained from Russia, to build a credible defense force in the face of China’s increasing belligerence in the South China Sea, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) said.
This level of capability would far exceed current Philippine
planning and finances and it would be in Washington’s interest to make it
easier for Manila to acquire excess US fighters, frigates and other weapons
system and encourage other countries such as Japan and South Korea to help
modernize the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), it said in an article
“Defending the Philippines: Military modernization and the challenges ahead.”
The CNAS article on Thursday written by Richard Fisher said
the AFP’s modernization program was estimated to cost about $1 billion over the
course of President Aquino’s six-year term – an amount that pales in comparison
to China’s
2012 official military budget of more than $100 billion.
A high-level Philippine delegation led by Foreign Secretary
Albert del Rosario and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin was in Washington this week for discussions on each other’s
needs to ensure freedom of navigation in the South China
Sea.
A Hamilton-class frigate, now the flagship of the Philippine
Navy, was turned over by the US last year and a second one is forthcoming. A
third frigate is being sought.
The article lauded Aquino’s determination to build up his
country’s military forces and said he has spent more than $395 million on AFP
modernization since coming into office, compared with $51 million annually in
the previous 15 years.
It said he is seeking to purchase a small number of F-16s
supported by six to 12 Surface Attack Aircraft (SAA)/Lead-In Fighter Training
(LIFT) aircraft such as the subsonic Italian Aermacchi T-346 or the supersonic
Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) T/A-50, both of which could be modified to
perform secondary combat missions.
A considerable investment in training, logistical support
and basing will have to precede the aircrafts’ service entry, estimated to be
in 2016, the article said.
In 2011, the Philippine Navy (PN) restored a program to
acquire two multi-role vessels in the form of 5,000-to-10,000-ton Landing
Platform Deck (LPD) ships capable of supporting Marine amphibious operations
supplying outposts in theSpratly Islands or conducting disaster relief
operations.
The PN is also looking for a land-based anti-ship cruise
missile like a version of the US Boeing AMG-84 Harpoon which has a range of 120
kms and could also be used by frigates and F-16s, said Fisher, a senior fellow
with the International Assessment and Strategy Center, in his article.
“Finally, the PN would like to acquire a submarine by 2020,
which would become its most ambitious and expensive program to date,” the
article said.
Given the economic and political stakes in ensuring that all
East Asian countries maintain unimpeded access to the sea lanes near the
Philippines, both those nations and the United States now share a real interest
in the success of the AFP modernization.
The timing is also fortuitous, the article said, because
“the United States now has a pragmatic partner in President Aquino who has
proved his intention to invest in national defense and is willing to rise above
nationalist resentments from the bases era.”
The Philippines booted the Americans from Clark Air Base and
Subic Bay in 1992.
(PhilStar)
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