South East Asia Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

93fiM5 said:

Not a terrible load out, would be nice to see a few Perry's transferred to the Philippines. Definitely better armed and more capable against a variety of threats.

- Greg

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A few are available for foreign sales but the Philippines believes the better route would be new frigates, most likely from South Korea.

Jeff Head said:

And if the Hamiltons get the Harpoons, they will have a substantially better ASuW load out.
.

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This is a critical question for the Philippine Navy. Does anyone know if the Pohang class corvette being donated will be the version with Harpoons or Exocets? If they get Exocets and they obtain Harpoons for the Hamiltons plus if they acquire new Korean built Incheon class with the Hae Sungs, that's one logistical nightmare.

93fiM5 said:

Definitely similar in terms of armament if the ships were transferred as currently equipped in the USN besides the ASW torpedo launchers that the OHP Class has. I was thinking more along the lines of the armament load out of the Australian or ROC Perry's (Adelaide and Cheng Kung).

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I am very familiar with the upgrades other nations have applied to the Perrys and their cost.

The Australians, Turks, and Republic of China have spent a lot of money on getting their Perry's to an upgraded position as they are.

1) The US vessels that might be xferred to the Philippines would not have such upgrades.
2) Those other nations have no plans to transfer or sell their vessels at this time.
3) The Philippines cannot afford to either upgrade US vessels or purchase the more expensive, already upgraded vessels.

That's why I referenced the US load outs. Those are the only ones the Philippines has any realistic chance of obtaining...and I find that itself very doubtful. They are already, however talking about a 4tf Hamilton Class.

Jeff Head said:

I am very familiar with the upgrades other nations have applied to the Perrys and their cost.

The Australians, Turks, and Republic of China have spent a lot of money on getting their Perry's to an upgraded position as they are.

1) The US vessels that might be xferred to the Philippines would not have such upgrades.
2) Those other nations have no plans to transfer or sell their vessels at this time.
3) The Philippines cannot afford to either upgrade US vessels or purchase the more expensive, already upgraded vessels.

That's why I referenced the US load outs. Those are the only ones the Philippines has any realistic chance of obtaining...and I find that itself very doubtful. They are already, however talking about a 4tf Hamilton Class.

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I understand your reasoning behind mentioning the US load out and agree the Philippines doesn't have the most robust defense budget, was just implying that the Perry's are a great platform and have a proven upgrade path and would be a significant boost in the capability of the Philippine Navy.

The Hamilton's will be a nice addition just not as capable as the Perry's if the budget were available.

-Greg

93fiM5 said:

I understand your reasoning behind mentioning the US load out and agree the Philippines doesn't have the most robust defense budget, was just implying that the Perry's are a great platform and have a proven upgrade path and would be a significant boost in the capability of the Philippine Navy.

The Hamilton's will be a nice addition just not as capable as the Perry's if the budget were available.

-Greg

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Agreed...if they had the money to do what the Australians or Turks did in particular, the Perry's would be the better choice.

But the Philippines are not going to have that kind of money and are probably getting the greatest bang for their buck in the Hamiltons.

Actually, I wish the US had upgraded about 12-18 of the Perry's like the Aussies or the Turks did.

Philippines says friendly fire killed 6 soldiers



MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine military investigation concluded Thursday that friendly fire and not Muslim extremists as reported earlier killed six elite army soldiers during a clash in the restive southern region last month.

Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Emmanuel Bautista was saddened by the finding and will decide whether charges should be filed against the marines responsible for firing the artillery round that killed six soldiers and wounded 13 others. The firing occurred during a June 19 clash with the Abu Sayyaf militants in Sulu province's hinterlands, military spokesman Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala said.

The Philippines has struggled to modernize its military, one of Asia's most ill-equipped. U.S. counterterrorism forces have been providing advice, combat training and intelligence, including drone surveillance, to Filipino troops battling the Abu Sayyaf and other al-Qaida-linked militants in the south since 2002.

The June 19 fighting is believed to have killed about 10 militants near mountainous Patikul town, according to Zagala.

He said that although the soldiers died from friendly fire, "they're still a part of the operations against terrorists and we consider them as heroes."

In the clash, the marines fired 105 mm howitzer rounds to back up troops battling the Abu Sayyaf but one struck an army detachment instead, he said.

The mistake may have been committed because of combat stress, Zagala said.

The Abu Sayyaf, which is listed by Washington as a terrorist organization, was organized in the early 1990s in Basilan province, near Sulu. With an unwieldy collective of preachers and outlaws, it vowed to wage jihad, or holy war, but lost its key leaders early in combat, sending it on a violent path of extremism and criminality.

Although the Abu Sayyaf's ranks have been largely decimated by a U.S.-backed Philippine anti-terrorism campaign, the militants have endured in a poor region with many guns and weak law enforcement.

Re: PLAN Type 054 FFG Thread II

I just went through this:

mostly in Thai language, I guess but contains great pictures of the Type 054 and several other frigates and frigate designs

Z-9 Helicopter Crash Kills 2 Cambodian Military Generals



PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Two generals who led the helicopter unit of Cambodia's air force were killed in a crash Monday, along with two pilots, police said. Defense Minister Tea Banh, who rushed to the crash site in a muddy pond south of the capital, said a fifth person on the chopper was seriously injured.Gen. Um Phy, deputy chief of staff of Cambodia's air force, confirmed the casualty count and said the aircraft was a Chinese-made Z-9 helicopter. Authorities had previously said five people were killed.It was not immediately clear what caused the accident, which police said was a training mission for new pilots.Two of the dead men were a major general and a brigadier general, Phnom Penh Deputy Police Chief Chuon Narin said. An incident report filed by police at the scene said the generals were the head and deputy head of the helicopter unit, and the other two men were pilots. Military officials confirmed the men's ranks, but not their positions. The survivor was not identified.

The chopper went down about 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of Phnom Penh, sinking in a rain-filled excavated rice field surrounded by rural land and other fields. Defense Ministry Secretary of State Moeung Samphan said 300 military personnel were sent to take part in the recovery operation. By evening, all four bodies had been recovered, said Um Phy.The main part of the helicopter's fuselage, whose cabin could be seen badly mangled in photographs from the local DAP news agency as it was lifted by a winch, was also retrieved and taken to air force headquarters for inspection, he said.Cambodia last year took delivery of 12 of the Z-9 helicopters, a licensed version of France's Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin that can carry nine passengers in addition to a pilot. The aircraft were purchased with a $195 million loan made to Cambodia in 2011 by China, the closest ally of the small Southeast Asian nation

Re: PLAN Type 054 FFG Thread II

Jura said:

I just went through this:

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mostly in Thai language, I guess but contains great pictures of the Type 054 and several other frigates and frigate designs

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The tender has been completed. Thailand chosed South Korean frigate.

Re: PLAN Type 054 FFG Thread II

lcloo said:

The tender has been completed. Thailand chosed South Korean frigate.

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can you please provide a link in English? (I'm not saying I don't believe you or something)

EDIT
OK, I looked this up
the background is here:
the price of the ordered frigate here:
(I quickly converted it using google, is $404m)

Re: PLAN Type 054 FFG Thread II

lcloo said:

The tender has been completed. Thailand chosed South Korean frigate.

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Probably a better move for Thailand to choose South Korean frigate; state of the art 'Western' technology and likely with fewer use restrictions than US-supplied hardware.