The Philippine Army has embarked on the acquisition of new light armored tactical vehicles which would replace armored personnel carriers (APC) in security duties.
The vehicles are to be procured under the Light Tactical Vehicle Acquisition Project of the Philippine Army, which is a Horizon 2 phase priority project under the Revised AFP Modernization Program.
These vehicles are smaller and lighter than the Philippine Army's existing wheeled APCs like the Cadillac Gage V-150 Commando and GKN Simba armored vehicles, and would be used in convoy escort, checkpoint and base security, urban operations, and rapid deployment.
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| The Chaiseri Defence First Win 2 wheeled armored vehicle, said to be potentially the leading candidate for the Philippine Army's LTV Acquisition Project. Photo credits to original source. |
Project Summary:
Light Tactical Vehicle Acquisition Project:
Note: Edited as of 26 February 2024.
* End User: Philippine Army (different frontline units)
* Quantity: 200 units
* Modernization Phase: Horizon 2 Phase of RAFPMP
* Project ABC: Php4,000,000,000.00
* Acquisition Mode: Government-to-Government (G2G) deal between Philippine DND and still undetermined country.
* Source of Funding: Multi-Year Contractual Authority for still unspecified number of years, using General Appropriations Act (GAA) from still undetermined year.
* SARO Release/s: TBA
* Winning Proponent: TBA
* Product for Delivery: TBA
* Contract Price: TBA
* MaxDefense Searching Hashtag: #PALTVAcquisition
* Status: Project pre-procurement process ongoing. Officially, the Philippine Army has no decision yet, although MaxDefense Philippines believes that a decision was already made but not announced. Project did not reach contracting stage by the time Horizon 2 phase ended on 31 December 2022. It was proposed to be moved to Horizon 3 and to be integrated with the procurement of similar vehicles by the Philippine Air Force and Philippine Marine Corps. Project has been cancelled as it is and will not be moved to Re-Horizon 3, and will instead be procured using annual operating budget of the branch services, but most likely still through joint or combined procurement to allow commonality and benefit from economies of scale.
Overview:
The Philippine Army has been using its limited number of wheeled Armored Personnel Carriers for other missions other than mechanized warfare. This is due to the reduced number of cavalry vehicles due to the retirement of numerous 1/4-ton trucks like the M151, M1777 Delta Mini Cruiser, CMC Cruiser, and the AM General HMMWV "Humvee" utility vehicles.
These vehicles previously provided the infantry with mobility and platform for heavy weapons like 7.62mm and 12.7mm machine guns, or 90mm or 107mm recoilless rifles.
The quick reduction of these vehicles in the Philippine Army forced the service to deploy wheeled APCs to provide armored protection and heavy weapons for convoys against ambushes, or in roadside checkpoints and base defense & security.
But this means less vehicles for mechanized infantry. And considering the small fleet of APCs in the Philippine Army, this would not be beneficial. It is obvious that a new vehicle is required for such menial jobs.
Consideration was made on protecting the infantry carried by these vehicles. While soft skinned trucks can be used on safe and friendly areas, or outside the frontline, armor and IED protection are needed in many occasions. This became the main concern and reason for looking for a vehicle with armor and MRAP-like capabilities.
While the Philippine Army is looking at a smaller vehicle than the V-150 Command and Simba 4x4 APCs, the new armored light tactical vehicles were specified to carry a 9-man rifle squad, while acting as a weapons platform. Thus the requirement for a seating capacity of 11 men including 1 driver and 1 weapon operator.
The large passenger capacity disqualified a lot of potential suppliers for the project including Kia Motors, which provided a couple of their new Kia KLTV for testing by the Philippine Army as a potential replacement to armored HMMWV vehicles.
These vehicles previously provided the infantry with mobility and platform for heavy weapons like 7.62mm and 12.7mm machine guns, or 90mm or 107mm recoilless rifles.
The quick reduction of these vehicles in the Philippine Army forced the service to deploy wheeled APCs to provide armored protection and heavy weapons for convoys against ambushes, or in roadside checkpoints and base defense & security.
But this means less vehicles for mechanized infantry. And considering the small fleet of APCs in the Philippine Army, this would not be beneficial. It is obvious that a new vehicle is required for such menial jobs.
Consideration was made on protecting the infantry carried by these vehicles. While soft skinned trucks can be used on safe and friendly areas, or outside the frontline, armor and IED protection are needed in many occasions. This became the main concern and reason for looking for a vehicle with armor and MRAP-like capabilities.
While the Philippine Army is looking at a smaller vehicle than the V-150 Command and Simba 4x4 APCs, the new armored light tactical vehicles were specified to carry a 9-man rifle squad, while acting as a weapons platform. Thus the requirement for a seating capacity of 11 men including 1 driver and 1 weapon operator.
The large passenger capacity disqualified a lot of potential suppliers for the project including Kia Motors, which provided a couple of their new Kia KLTV for testing by the Philippine Army as a potential replacement to armored HMMWV vehicles.
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| Both the Philippine Army and Philippine Marine Corps have a few Kia Raycolt KLTV armored light tactical vehicles, donated by Kia Motors for evaluation. |
According to MaxDefense Philippines, the Chaiseri First Win 2 appears to be leading the selection process of the Philippine Army, although offers from Turkey, Israel, South Korea, Ukraine, and some Middle Eastern and Eastern European countries have been considered as well.
But due to changes in the procurement plans, the specifications are expected to be revised and the partial technical requirements below may not hold weight by the time the actual procurement process takes place.
Partial Technical Requirements:
Based on MaxDefense Philippines' previous post regarding the vehicle's technical requirements, among those publicly made available are the following:
* Crew Capacity: 11 crew and dismounts
* Engine: diesel with at least 300PS output
* Drive Mode: 4x4 with Automatic Transmission
* Length: maximum of 6.25 meters
* Gross Weight: maximum of 14 tons
* Ballistic Protection: STANAG 4569 Level 2 compliant
* Mine/IED Protection: STANAG 4569 Level 2 compliant
* Main Weapon: 7.62mm general purpose machine gun on manned armored turret, with some vehicles with RCWS and option for 12.7mm heavy machine gun
Other requirements were not posted as requested by MDP's sources.
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U P D A T E S:
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20 March 2021:
MaxDefense Philippines released a blog entry discussing the possibility of Chaiseri Defence's First Win 2 wheeled armored vehicle being the leading model for the Philippine Army's Light Tactical Vehicle Acquisition Project.
The blog entry can be accessed on the link below:
"Is Philippine Army leaning on Thailand's Chaiseri First Win 2 MRAP for its Light Tactical Vehicle requirements?" - first posted on 20 March 2021.
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06 March 2023:
The project failed to reach contracting stage by the end of Horizon 2 phase last 31 December 2022. This means that it could potentially be moved to Horizon 3 phase.
So far no plans have been made available although our parent page MaxDefense Philippines confirmed that the Philippine Army is still in talks with different suppliers and manufacturers.
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24 June 2023:
Our parent page MaxDefense Philippines has received information on the proposed Horizon 3 acquisition list and it appears that the Light Tactical Vehicle Acquisition Project was indeed moved, although it has been re-named as the Joint Tactical Combat Vehicle Acquisition Project, which now combines the acquisition of similar vehicles by the Philippine Air Force and Philippine Navy (Marines).
Under the Horizon 2 phase, the Philippine Navy (Marines) has the Tactical Combat Vehicle Acquisition Project, and this has been combined with the Light Tactical Vehicle Acquisition Project of the Philippine Army.
The total number of vehicles for the Philippine Army remains at 200 vehicles, although the budget has been increased by 10%, from Php4 billion to Php4.4 billion.
As it is now a joint project, it remains to be seen if the specifications will be changed to consider the feedback from the other branch services.
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25 November 2023:
Our parent page MaxDefense Philippines received a copy of the revised Horizon 3 proposal, which still includes the Joint Tactical Combat Vehicle Acquisition Project in the list.
The budget remains the same as what we posted last June 2023.
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26 February 2024:
Our parent page MaxDefense Philippines has again received updates on the Horizon 3 phase, which has now been renamed as the Re-Horizon 3 phase.
And based on the new acquisition list, it appears that the Joint Combat Vehicle Acquisition Project has been removed from the list.
Instead, discussions with Philippine Army sources mentioned that the vehicles might be acquired by using the annual operating budgets of each of the branch services, similar to how they will be acquiring trucks, assault and man-portable air defense systems in piecemeal.
There is also indication that support will be given to any attempt to manufacture a locally-made tactical armored vehicle, as part of the Self-Reliance Defense Posture (SRDP) program of the Department of National Defense.
Currently there is only one company that have provided indication to develop and manufacture a locally-made tactical vehicle, which is Anos Research and Manufacturing, which already showed its proposed Liberato 4x4 armored light tactical vehicle, which MaxDefense Philippines believes is being developed in cooperation with Turkish company Cukurova Defense.
MaxDefense Philippines released a blog entry discussing the possibility of Chaiseri Defence's First Win 2 wheeled armored vehicle being the leading model for the Philippine Army's Light Tactical Vehicle Acquisition Project.
The blog entry can be accessed on the link below:
"Is Philippine Army leaning on Thailand's Chaiseri First Win 2 MRAP for its Light Tactical Vehicle requirements?" - first posted on 20 March 2021.
===============
06 March 2023:
The project failed to reach contracting stage by the end of Horizon 2 phase last 31 December 2022. This means that it could potentially be moved to Horizon 3 phase.
So far no plans have been made available although our parent page MaxDefense Philippines confirmed that the Philippine Army is still in talks with different suppliers and manufacturers.
===============
24 June 2023:
Our parent page MaxDefense Philippines has received information on the proposed Horizon 3 acquisition list and it appears that the Light Tactical Vehicle Acquisition Project was indeed moved, although it has been re-named as the Joint Tactical Combat Vehicle Acquisition Project, which now combines the acquisition of similar vehicles by the Philippine Air Force and Philippine Navy (Marines).
Under the Horizon 2 phase, the Philippine Navy (Marines) has the Tactical Combat Vehicle Acquisition Project, and this has been combined with the Light Tactical Vehicle Acquisition Project of the Philippine Army.
The total number of vehicles for the Philippine Army remains at 200 vehicles, although the budget has been increased by 10%, from Php4 billion to Php4.4 billion.
As it is now a joint project, it remains to be seen if the specifications will be changed to consider the feedback from the other branch services.
===============
25 November 2023:
Our parent page MaxDefense Philippines received a copy of the revised Horizon 3 proposal, which still includes the Joint Tactical Combat Vehicle Acquisition Project in the list.
The budget remains the same as what we posted last June 2023.
===============
26 February 2024:
Our parent page MaxDefense Philippines has again received updates on the Horizon 3 phase, which has now been renamed as the Re-Horizon 3 phase.
And based on the new acquisition list, it appears that the Joint Combat Vehicle Acquisition Project has been removed from the list.
Instead, discussions with Philippine Army sources mentioned that the vehicles might be acquired by using the annual operating budgets of each of the branch services, similar to how they will be acquiring trucks, assault and man-portable air defense systems in piecemeal.
There is also indication that support will be given to any attempt to manufacture a locally-made tactical armored vehicle, as part of the Self-Reliance Defense Posture (SRDP) program of the Department of National Defense.
Currently there is only one company that have provided indication to develop and manufacture a locally-made tactical vehicle, which is Anos Research and Manufacturing, which already showed its proposed Liberato 4x4 armored light tactical vehicle, which MaxDefense Philippines believes is being developed in cooperation with Turkish company Cukurova Defense.
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| The Liberato 4x4 armored light tactical vehicle from Anos Research Manufacturing Corp. Photo credits to Anos Research Manufacturing Corp. |
The Philippine Army has remained open to foreign designs and brands, although it will give higher evaluation scores if they can open a local manufacturing center in the Philippines, or partner with local companies to allow them to be built locally.
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First edit and release: 26 March 2021
Copyright MaxDefense Philippines / Philippine Defense Resource
First edit and release: 26 March 2021
Copyright MaxDefense Philippines / Philippine Defense Resource
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