Philippine Navy’s first Jose Rizal Class frigate undergoes sea trials

Photo Courtesy : Philippine Navy

According to the press release of Philippine Navy (PN) on 22nd November, the first of the two multi-mission capable frigate of the PN, FF150, undergoes various sea trials from 23-27 Nov conducted by the technical crew of Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI).

The 351 by 46-feet frigate will sail towards the open waters off Ulsan, Busan and Mokpo in South Korea to measure its performance and general sea worthiness. Representatives from Lloyd Registry shall witness the activity to ensure that the ship’s construction has met the required standards.

This will be the last phase of construction prior the frigate’s delivery to the Philippines scheduled tentatively in April or May 2020. This will take place six months after the vessel was launched (to the water) for the first time at HHI Shipyard last May.

The Php 8 billion (appx $157 million) warship is a big-ticket acquisition of the AFP that is poised to be the benchmark of PN’s transformation journey. This warship is capable of conducting Anti-Air Warfare (AAW), Anti-Surface Warfare (ASUW), Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) and Electronic Warfare (EW) Operations and it is fully equipped with Surface to Air and Surface to Surface Missiles, torpedoes, launchers and weapon systems.

The activity signifies that the PN is inching closer to its dream of acquiring highly capable warships. Its crew and maintenance personnel is currently undergoing training in ROK.

Jose Rizal is expected to be delivered to the Philippines in the second half of 2020 while the second ship in the class, BRP Antonio Luna, is scheduled for delivery in the first half of 2021.

Jose Rizal Class Frigate :

The Jose Rizal-class frigate is a class of two multi-role semi-stealth frigates to be built for the Philippine Navy, the ships are the derivatives of HDF-3000 frigate design (officially known as HDF-2600 Frigate Design) from Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) with design specifically accommodated to fit the requirements of the Philippine Navy.

The ships will be 107.5 meters long with a displacement of 2,600 tonnes.

The armament of the BRP Jose Rizal includes one Oto Melara 76 mm Super Rapid Gun, one ASELSAN SMASH 30mm Secondary Gun, 4 S&T Motiv 12.7mm K6 Heavy Machine Guns and 1 Close-in weapon system (FFBNW). The frigate is also armed with two Twin MBDA Simbad RC with Mistral missiles, one single 8-cell Vertical Launching System (FFBNW) and two Twin LIGNex1 SSM-700K C-Star Anti Ship Missile. It also has two SEA Triple Trainable Torpedo Launchers.

The 107-meter general-purpose ships will have a complement of 110 and will be capable of performing anti-air, anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare.