Philippines to soon receive delivery of first Jose Rizal-class frigate

The frigate Jose Rizal (FF-150) bound for the Philippine Navy. Photo c/o HHI.


The Philippine Navy (PN) is expected to receive its first Jose Rizal-class frigate, the future BRP Jose Rizal (FF-150), as the ship left Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) facilities in Ulsan, South Korea on 18 May 2020.

The ship is expected to arrive in Subic Bay in Zambales province in the Philippines, where it will undergo technical and acceptance inspections by the PN, which is a requirement prior to commissioning the ship. 

Philippine defense page MaxDefense Philippines noted that there are still works that may need to be done in the Philippines prior to commissioning the ship, mostly related to integration of the ship’s surveillance and combat systems, as well on the Combat Management System.

No date has been provided yet on when the ship will be commissioned.

The frigate is the first missile-armed major surface combatant of the PN, which used to only operate gun-armed warships except for a few assault boats armed with short range missiles.

The  Jose Rizal-class were built by HHI under a contract signed in October 2016, and are based on HHI’s HDF-2500 design which was derived from the Incheon-class frigates built for the Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN). 

The ships are 107.5 meters long, displaces at around 2,600 tons, are powered by four (4) diesel engines in Combined Diesel and Diesel (CODAD) configuration, allowing a maximum speed in excess of 25 knots, and a range of 4,500 nautical miles.

The are armed with an Oto Melara 76mm Super Rapid main gun, a 30mm gun mounted on an ASELSAN Smash remote weapon system, 2 twin launchers for LIG Nex1 SSM-700K C-Star anti-ship cruise missiles, two twin Simbad-RC launchers for MBDA Mistral short range air defense missiles, and two triple torpedo tubes. It also has space for an 8-cell vertical launching system and a close-in weapon system (CIWS).


[1] Jane’s 
[2] MaxDefense Philippines
[3] Naval News

Philippines to soon receive delivery of first Jose Rizal-class frigate Philippines to soon receive delivery of first Jose Rizal-class frigate Reviewed by Asia Pacific Defense Journal on May 19, 2020 Rating: 5

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