Philippines sign MOU with Hyundai Heavy Industries on future corvettes

HHI's HDF-2500 light frigate design could be used again as basis for the PN's future corvettes. Photo c/o Military Images.

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The Philippines’ Department of National Defense (DND) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) on the company’s participation in designing and constructing a new batch of corvettes for the Philippine Navy (PN).

Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and HHI President Ka Sam-Hyun signed the MOU in HHI’s headquarters in Ulsan, South Korea, with officials from the South Korean Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) attending the ceremonies.

Although Korean media outlets reported it to be for future patrol frigates, Philippine defense pages confirmed that it is actually for a new batch of missile corvettes that the Philippine Navy is set to award in the next few months.

Filipino defense page MaxDefense Philippines confirmed that the PN and DND are at the final planning stages on the Corvette project, which is already decided to be awarded to the South Korean Ministry of National Defense (MND) under a Government-to-Government (G2G) deal. The MND is backing HHI’s offer for the project, which has been under negotiation since 2018.

MaxDefense Philippines also mentioned that an improved version of HHI’s HDF-2500 light frigate design which was used on the Jose Rizal-class frigates also built for the Philippine Navy.


[1] Yonhap News Agency
[2] MaxDefense Philippines
[3] Jane’s Defence Weekly