Philippines to commission 3 fast boats, 4 amphibious assault vehicles

MPAC Mk.3 boats, similar to those for conmissioning with the PN today. These examples were delivered in 2018 under a separate contract. Photo c/o MaxDefense Philippines.

The Philippine Navy (PN) is scheduled to commission three (3) new Multi-Purpose Attack Craft (MPAC) Mk.3 fast boats and four (4) KAAV-7A1 amphibious assault vehicles in ceremonies scheduled 23 September 2019.

The ceremonies is expected to be attended by Philippines Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, and top officials from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the PN.

The MPAC Mk.3  were made by the joint venture of Taiwan’s Lung The Shipbuilding, and Filipino marine company Propmech Corporation, and will actually be the 4th batch acquired by the PN from the joint venture. It would be armed with the Rafael Spike-ER missiles fired from the Rafael Typhoon MLS-ER missile launchers, as well as a 12.7mm heavy machine guns mounted on the Rafael Mini Typhoon remote weapon stations, and two manually-operated 7.62mm GP machine guns.

The boats will be assigned with the PN’s Littoral Combat Force, which operate all littoral fleet assets.

The KAAV-7A1 amphibious assault vehicles (AAV) are the last batch delivered by South Korea’s Hanwha Defense under a Php2.4 billion contract to supply eight (8) AAVs. The first batch of vehicles were delivered in May 2019 and commissioned by June 2019, while this second batch arrived in August 2019.

The vehicles will be assigned with the Philippine Marine Corps’ Armor Assault Battalion and join other armored vehicle assets of the PMC which includes the Cadillac Gage V-150 and V-300 Commando wheeled AVs and a few ageing LVTH-6 tracked AAVs.

The PN intends to acquire more MPACs and AAVs as part of the its Capability Upgrade Program although none has been programmed during the current phase covering years 2018 to 2023.



[1] MaxDefense Philippines
[2] PTV News