Weapons, Decoys and other System Updates for the Jose Rizal class Frigates – August 2021

The 1st of 2 Pages of the Article "Jose Rizal Class Frigates: What Lies Ahead"

The Philippine Navy (PN) recently uploaded on their official Website the April 2021, Volume 100 of their official Gazette, the “Rough Deck Log”, and one the Articles there is titled “Jose Rizal Class Frigates: What Lies Ahead”.1 

The Article provided some details about the current and future plans of the PN for the 2 new Ships in terms of its Weapons, Decoys and other Systems. Below is a summary of those: 

Jose Rizal class Frigate Drawing comparisons to Foreign and other PN Ships

Shipbucket¹ is a website that archives ship and aircraft drawings in a uniform scale and style. They allow anybody to contribute drawings as long as they register on the website and submit drawings that conform to the standards they set.

Recently they came up with a drawing of the Philippine Navy’s (PN) newest Frigate, the BRP Jose Rizal (FF-150), and thus I saw some opportunity to compare it with some interesting ships so we can see its size and shape relative to those vessels.

Along the way I will also introduce a little bit of trivia and information about the vessels. This will be the first of a two-part blog, in this one I will be comparing the Jose Rizal ships to other ships of the PN and to the Kamorta class Corvette.

Jose Rizal class Frigate Drawing comparisons with SEA Frigates

This is the second blog I have comparing the Shipbucket drawing of the Jose Rizal class Frigates of the Philippine Navy (PN). In the first one I compared the Jose Rizal ships to other ships of the PN, but in this one I will be comparing it to some of the most modern Frigates of our South East Asian (SEA) neighbors.

Shipbucket¹ of course is a website that archives ship and aircraft drawings in a uniform scale and style. They allow anybody to contribute drawings as long as they register on the website and submit drawings that comply to the standards they set.

’Shipbucket Crediting Rules’
Here are some explanations and references to conform to the Shipbucket website’s crediting rules.² Except for the Nareusan class Frigate drawing, all the other drawings I used below were originally archived on Shipbucket, and among the changes I made to the original drawings are:
- Moved texts closer to the ship drawings;
- Combined together drawings;
- Enlarged and cropped the resulting drawings;
- Removed the Mk 15 Phalanx Close In Weapons System (CIWS) and RIM-162 Evolved Seas Sparrow Missile (ESSM) from the BRP Jose Rizal drawings;

The Philippine Navy’s HHI Frigate Controversy

The Philippine Navy's new Frigate. Photo courtesy of Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI).

I have been closely monitoring the developments on the controversy surrounding the Philippine Navy’s (PN) purchase of two Frigates from Hyundai Heavy Industry (HHI) for the past couple of months, but held off writing a blog until I had gathered and studied enough information from news reports about it.

And now I think I have enough material to comfortably write about the topic, hence this blog. The controversy started to break out into the mainstream when just a couple of days before Christmas on December 19, 2017, Vice Admiral (VA) Ronald Mercado was relieved of his post as Flag Officer in Chief (FOIC) of the PN by the Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.¹

The Navy’s New Frigates – On the Brink, and their ISO/HADR Capabilities

The Incheon class Frigate like this ROKS Jeonbuk (FFG-813) was HHI's entry into the Philippine Navy's Frigate Acquisition Program. Photo courtesy of the Republic of Korea Ministry of Defense account on Flickr

Officially this is my first blog under the Administration of the new Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, and guess what? It talks about the Philippine Navy’s (PN) Frigate Acquisition Program on the brink of being either approved … or cancelled outright. First, an update on the whole Frigate program so far.

‘Frigate Program Progress’
The Indian company Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) Ltd was found to be the lowest bidder in the PN’s Frigate program, submitting a bid of P 15.047 Billion (USD 326 million), or P 953 million (USD 20.7 million) lower than the P16 billion (USD 347 million) budget for the project. The next lowest bidder was Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) who submitted a bid worth P15.744 billion (USD 341 million), higher by P 697 million (USD 15.1 million) than that of GRSE. Two other bidders, Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) Co. Ltd and Navantia SA submitted bids but failed to meet some documentary requirements.^[1]

Philippine Navy Frigate Acquisition Project Revised Technical Requirements – February 2016

Top view illustration of the AW159 Wildcat. Illustration taken from the Department of National Defense (DND) document DND/PN-FAP-16-01

The bidding for the Philippine Navy’s new Frigate Acquisition Project officially resumed when the Department of National Defense (DND) posted recently on the official Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) website the schedule of the Bid Submission and Opening of the Second or Final Stage of the bidding. It was initially set for February 16, 2016,^[1] but was later reset to March 3, 2016,^[2] then reset again to March 10, 2016.^[3] Along with the initial announcement, they also published a REVISION to the specifications of the Frigates, and it is quite long at over 71 pages.^[4]

The revisions resulted in a more detailed and comprehensive technical specifications compared to it was before,^[5] thanks probably in no small part to help from the P 25 million Consultant/s that they hired^[6] and also from the Technical Working Group (TWG) that helped review the bids.^[7] The revisions are quite numerous, so I am just summarizing on what I think are the most important and interesting ones. If you want to read the old and new specifications yourself, just refer to the End Notes.^[4] [5]

New Frigate Bidding Candidate: New Generation Floreal Frigate

Side view of the New Generation Floreal Frigate (NG2F). Photo courtesy of the STX Brochure

I already made a couple of blogs about the candidates for the Philippine Navy’s New Frigate Acquisition Project, and I actually didn’t want to write another one. I figured that by this time the winner of the bidding would have been announced already and thus I would be writing about that instead. However, that has not happened, so here I am again writing about a “prospect” for our new Frigates.

In 2014, a Frigate of the French Navy, the Prarial, visited the country and its Commander Frederic Daumas confirmed that STX’s candidate for the bidding was an updated version of the Floreal Frigate.^[1] I subsequently blogged about it,^[2] but at that time I did not have clear information on the exact details of the upgraded ship that was being offered. However, in May of 2015 STX finally released an official brochure for the upgraded Floreal,^[3] so using that as main reference it is now time to make a “reboot” of my previous blog.

The Sigma 10514 Almost Fits the Navy’s Frigate Requirements

KRI Diponegoro, a Sigma 9113 class Corvette of the Indonesian Navy. Photo courtesy of Wim Kosten thru Wikimedia Commons.

Today, October 2, 2015, marks the SECOND YEAR ANNIVERSARY of the bidding for the Philippine Navy (PhN)’s two brand new Frigates. Yessir, the whole project is now TWO YEARS OLD and can be called a “Saga” already, with still no end in sight. The project is still a “Go”, with PNoy finally signing off the approval for the release of their budget last September 8, 2015.^[1]

However, no definite date has been officially announced to the public on WHEN the next stages of the bidding will be made, although a representative of one of the bidders, India’s Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) said in an interview that the Financial Bids are going to be opened “soon”, but that the announcement of the winner will likely be done only by the end of the year probably after the Post-Bidding checks have been completed.^[2]

New Frigate Bidding Candidate: Kamorta-class Variant?

The INS Kamorta of the Indian Navy, photo courtesy of the Indian Navy thru Wikipedia Commons

The Indian press recently announced that the Indian shipbuilding company "Garden Reach Ship Builders and Engineers (GRSE)" is bidding for the Philippine Navy's (PhN) Frigate Acquisition Project. ^[1] UNFORNATELY, NONE of the reports indicated specifically WHICH ship GRSE in entering into the bidding.

The only clue in the reports is that the weight of the ship is at approximately 3,500 tons. Looking at GRSE's official website,^[2] the only Frigate sized ship they offering there is the "Brahmaputra class Frigate" which has an empty displacement of 3,650 tons, but this maybe a little bit too big for the PhN's Frigate project.

New Frigate Acquisition Bidding Delay – November 2014

Are our hopes of getting the new Frigates sailing and disappearing off into the sunset, like this Type 45 Daring-class Destoryer? Photo courtesy of Amanda Reynolds thru Wikipedia Commons

Not many people realized it, but the bidding for the two new Frigates by the Philippine Navy (PN) celebrated its first year anniversary last month. Yessir, the bidding is now over a year old. It was October 2, 2013 when the Navy officially opened the bidding for the new Frigate Acquisition Program,¹ and twelve months later where is it now? Sadly it is now in LIMBO, with no end in sight. Last April 2014, the Navy’s Technical Working Group (TWG) announced that they intended to award the bidding by July 2014,² but that month came and went with no announcement of the winner.

The last official update released about the program was in August 2014 when the Department of National Defense (DND) announced that the program is still ongoing, but that it will instead be split into two acquisitions, one for the ship and another for its weapons.³ However, that official release did NOT indicate any timeline, they did not say anything about when the bidding will be completed. In other words, it is OPEN-ENDED, there is no clear schedule WHEN it will be done.

New Frigate Bidding Candidate: Modified HDF-3000 class

(Revised July 31, 2014. See bottom of the page for the complete revision history)

Side view of an HDF-3000-class Frigate. Photo courtesy of the Republic of Korea Navy thru Flickr

After my discussion with the Navantia representative about the Avante 2200 Combatant Frigate, their entry into the new Frigate bidding of the Philippine Navy (PN), I proceeded to the Hyundai display area at the Asian Defense and Security (ADAS) 2014 exhibit at Pasay. Navantia's area was already sizable, but Hyundai's was even more so, approximately 50% bigger than Navantia's, and they had more scale models on display, around half a dozen or. I really wasn't sure which of the ships they entered into the bidding, so I looked for a Hyundai representative to ask about it.

There were three Hyundai reps wearing business suits in the booth, one of them was talking to another attendee while the other one was not so friendly looking, in fact he was kinda constantly scowling, so I turned to the third person who looked like a newbie and thus seemed more accommodating. I called his attention and asked him which of the models they entered the bidding, and he promptly took me to the model of the HDF-3000 Frigate.

New Frigate Bidding Candidate: Modified Avante 2200 Combatant class

Front view of the Avante 2200 Combatant. Photo courtesy of Navantia Official thru Flickr

I was lucky enough to have had the chance to attend the Asian Defense and Security (ADAS) Exhibit at the World Trade Center (WTC) in Pasay last July 18, 2014, and after spending about an hour or so ogling the exhibits and taking pictures, it finally dawned to me that there is one important thing I could do during this event, and that is to confirm with the manufacturers which of their ships they entered into the Philippine Navy's new Frigate bidding. This information was never revealed by the Department of National Defense (DND) or the manufacturers to the public, so I quickly proceeded to the Navantia display area.

Upon arriving at the rather sizable Navantia area, I saw a couple of people who looked like they were part of the company, but they were talking with other attendees. So I stood around for awhile, trying to ascertain if there were any other Navantia representatives I could ask around. Finally a Spanish gentleman in a business suit whose name I never got asked me nicely if there was something he could help me with, and so I asked him directly which ship they entered the bidding. He then motioned me to one of the models on display and confirmed that it was one of they had entered in the bidding. We talked for a couple more minutes, and I will slowly divulge below some of the details he mentioned about their candidate ship.

New Frigate Bidding Candidate: Upgraded Floreal-class

(This blog has since been "rebooted" in January 24, 2016 after the manufacturer published the brochure of the upgraded Floreal. You can access the rebooted blog here: New Frigate Bidding Candidate: New Generation Floreal Frigate)

[caption id="attachment_3223" align="alignnone" width="1192"]A front view of the Prarial, a ship of the Floreal-class. Photo courtesy of the French Hong Kong Consulate website.[/caption]

We got a rare glimpse of what is being offered in the bidding for the Philippine Navy's (PN) new Frigates when the French ship Prarial made a five-day stopover in Manila. The Captain of the ship, Frederic Daumas, revealed that one of the missions for the visit was to demonstrate the Prarial to Philippine officials as it turns out that an updated version of it is being offered as one of the candidates for the bidding.¹

Spain's Navantia and South Korea's Daewoo actually also stated the ships they wanted to enter into the bidding earlier,^{2 3} but they released their statements before the actual bidding itself and before they knew what the technical specifications for the ships were going to be. France is the first country to publicly declare the design of the ship they are offering after the start of the bidding, and is being represented in the bidding by STX France.⁴

Philippine Navy Frigate Acquisition Project Technical Requirements

For the latest news about the new Frigate acquisition, refer to the "Philippine Navy New Frigate Acquisition Timeline".

***************
Revised March 18, 2014. See bottom of the page for the complete revision history
***************

The BRP Gregorio Del Pilar (PF-15). Photo courtesy of the Naval Open Source Intelligence website

A kind soul finally posted the technical specifications for the 2 new Frigate acquisitions by the Philippine Navy (PhN), showing pages 93 to 113 of the official documents ("Frigate Acquisition Project Technical Specifications"). 

This bidding is significant because it is the first BRAND NEW ship acquisition by the Philippine Navy of this level and sophistication. Once in service, these ships will be the MOST CAPABLE Ships in the entire history of the PhN, even going all the way back to the formation of the Philippine Republic after World War 2, so all the events we are seeing now related to its acquisition are historic events.

The technical requirements are quite comprehensive, the Navy really knew what they wanted, and tried to be as thorough as possible with it. Let me try to summarize the most important listed requirements as much as possible, presenting it in an easier to read way:

Philippine Navy New Frigate Bidding Candidates - August 2013

The Philippine Navy (PN) is set to open the bidding of 2 brand new Frigates worth P18 Billion (USD 418 million), and although no specific timeline has been put forward, it is hoped that it will happen within the year.[1] So far only Spain's Navantia has publicly stated that they intend to join the bidding to offer their Avante 1800 (A1800) Corvette.[2] Also, Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) of South Korea as early as last year had talks with the Department of National Defense (DND) on the possibility of them joining any new Frigate bidding thru their Incheon-class Frigates.[3]

I have prepared a table below comparing some of the important statisctics regarding these 2 candidates, and comparing them also to the BRP Ramon Alcaraz we have right now. Sources of these statistics can be seen at the "Sources" section at the end of the page.[4] [5] [6]