The Philippine Navy (PN) has commissioned the second Jose Rizal-class frigate, BRP Antonio Luna (FF151), with a ceremony held on 19 March 2021 in Manila’s South Harbor, the Philippine Navy announced on Facebook and Twitter.
The ceremony was attended by the Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, South Korean ambassador to the Philippines Kim In-Chul, Philippine Navy chief Vice Admiral Giovanni Bacordo and other defense officials, and Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) representatives.
The BRP Antonio Luna (FF-151) was designed and built by South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI). The ship was launched on November 2019 and delivered to the Philippines on 05 February 2021.
The first ship of the class, BRP Jose Rizal (FF-150) was commissioned for the Philippine Navy in June 2020.
Jose Rizal-class frigate:
The Jose Rizal class of multi-role guided missile frigates, currently in service with the Philippine Navy, are heavily modified variants of the ROK Navy’s Incheon-class frigates. The frigates will improve the capability of the Philippine Navy’s Offshore Combat Force, which is mostly composed of ships that were retired from other countries and subsequently transferred to the Philippines.
The Jose Rizal-class frigates are the PN’s primary fighting ships, and are 107.5 meters long, has a beam of 13.8 meters, and a draft of 6.9 meters, and with a displacement of around 2,600 tons.
The ships are armed with;
- Oto Melara Super Rapid 76 mm main gun
- Aselsan SMASH 30 mm RCWS as secondary weapon
- 4 x LIGNex1 SSM-700K C-Star anti-ship surface-to-surface missiles.
- two twin launchers for MBDA Mistral missiles on MBDA Simbad-RC VSHORAD launchers
- 2×3 LIGNex1 K745 Blue Shark torpedoes
- 4 x S&T Motiv 12.7 mm K6 Heavy Machine Guns
- Close-in weapons system(FFBNW)
- 8-cell vertical launch system (VLS) (FFBNW)
The Jose Rizal-class frigates are also equipped with a flight deck and an enclosed hangar facility to accommodate one AW159 Wildcat naval helicopter. The AW159 Wildcat is a British military helicopter manufactured by AgustaWestland. It is an improved version of the Westland Super Lynx designed to serve in the battlefield utility, search and rescue, and anti-surface warfare roles.
