Philippines orders K745 Blue Shark ASW torpedoes from Korea, soft kill decoys from France, South Africa

 

A ship of the Republic of Korea Navy firing a K745 Blue Shark torpedo during exercises. Photo c/o Defense of the Republic of the Philippines forum.


The Philippines Department of National Defense (DND) has awarded a deal to acquire new anti-submarine torpedoes to South Korean defense company LIG Nex1, which will supply their K745 Blue Shark lightweight torpedoes to the Philippine Navy (PN).

No quantity was mentioned but the deal was reported to cost around PHP722.3 million (US$15 million).

The Philippine Navy has preferred the K745 Blue Shark torpedoes for use on its two South Korean-made Jose Rizal-class general purpose light frigates as the type is the standard anti-submarine weapon of the PN's AgustaWestland AW-159 Wildcat naval helicopters that will be operating from the frigates.

This would allow commonality for both the frigates and its complementing naval helicopters.

Thee DND is acquiring the torpedoes through Direct Negotiation with LIG Nex1 under a Government-to-Government (G2G) acquisition process supported by the South Korean Ministry of National Defense (MND).

The K745 Blue Shark lightweight anti-submarine torpedo was originally developed for the Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN) by South Korea's Agency of Defense Development (ADD)  and was later on offered for export to other countries, with the Philippine Navy its the first export customer in 2019.

It has a reported range of around 19 kilometers, a maximum speed of 45 knots, and has a warhead capable of penetrating up to 1.5 meters thick steel.

It is guided by an acoustic homing seeker capable of passive or active homing, as well as an internal navigation system (INS).

Aside from torpedoes, the DND has also awarded the acquisition of 130mm chaffs to South Africa’s Rheinmetall Denel Munitions, which is expected to deliver the Rheinmetall Bullfighter 130mm RF/IR decoy.

The DND has also awarded a deal to acquire 130mm acoustic anti-torpedo decoys to France’s Naval Group, which reportedly offered the CANTO torpedo countermeasures.

Both decoys will also be used by the Jose Rizal-class frigates, which are equipped with the Terma C-Guard countermeasure launching systems.




[1] Philippine Defense Resource
[2] MaxDefense Philippines
[3] Philippine News Agency

Philippines orders K745 Blue Shark ASW torpedoes from Korea, soft kill decoys from France, South Africa  Philippines orders K745 Blue Shark ASW torpedoes from Korea, soft kill decoys from France, South Africa Reviewed by Asia Pacific Defense Journal on August 17, 2021 Rating: 5

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