Man-Portable Air Defense System (2024) Acquisition Project of the Philippine Army

As part of efforts to finally widen its very limited air defense capabilities as part of its modernization, the Philippine Army has started to plan for the procurement of Man-Portable Air Defense System (MANPADS).

These are meant to be mobile and would be used for air defense of critical infrastructure like the presidential palace and other facilities.

A Mistral 3 MANPADS. 

Project Summary:

Man-Portable Air Defense System (MANPADS) (2024) Acquisition Project

Note: Edited as of 31 January 2024.

* End User: Philippine Army (specific unit unconfirmed)

* Quantity: 10 units

* Modernization Phase: not applicable

* Project ABC: Php381,621,000.00

* Acquisition Mode: TBC

* Source of Funding: Philippine Army GAA FY2024 Capital Outlay

* SARO Release/s: TBC

* Winning Proponent: TBC

* Product for Delivery: TBC

* Contract Price: TBC

* Residual Amount: TBC

* First post by MaxDefense: 31 January 2024 (this post)

* MaxDefense Searching Hashtag: #PAMANPADS2024Acquisition

* Project Status: Project was first floated as part of acquisitions being pushed by the Philippine Army in 2023. Request for Information has been sent to different manufacturers as of late 2023. Actual procurement process expected to start in early 2024.

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Overview:

Air defense has been a key capability that has been almost missing with the Philippine Army for several decades.

The Philippine Army used to have air defense units using anti-aircraft guns received from the US government after World War II, including M45 Quadmounts using 12.7mm machine guns. But these have all been retired from service decades ago.

Currently it does not have any purpose-built air defense system. It has no gun or missile air defense systems of its own, and while it is holding a few dozen Man-Portabale Air Defense Systems, these are actually for the Presidential Security Group (PSG) and are assets owned by the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

There was an effort to procure new MANPADS for the Philippine Army under the Horizon 2 Phase of the Revised AFP Modernization Program, but it has failed to reach actual procurement stage by the end of Horizon 2 Phase in 2022, and it appears to have been cancelled and re-introduced as a new project for Short Range Air Defense System (SHOADS) under the Horizon 3 Phase from 2023 (which will have its own separate resource page for further discussion).  It is still unclear though if these will still be consisting of MANPADS, or a short range system that is more capable than MANPADS but falls short to be called a medium-range air defense system.

While there is already a procurement project for such, it appears that a new separate effort is being made to procure  small quantities of MANPADS outside the AFP Modernization Program, and will be funded using annual capital outlay for ordnance procurement.

It is still unclear as to the concept of this procurement plan, but it appears that this is meant for the Philippine Army to hasten the introduction of air defense systems starting with MANPADS, and to start introducing such systems to specific units of the Philippine Army that will be handling air defense in the future.

The urgency of this procurement, the small quantity involved, and not waiting for the Horizon 3 Phase project for SHORADS is very obvious in this specific project, and it remains to be seen as to why.

The project specifications has not been made available yet, and for now we can only speculate as to what the potential products in the market that could be offered to the Philippine Army.


Potential Models for Consideration

Being a revision of the earlier MANPADS Acquisition Project under Horizon 2 phase of RAFPMP, we are expecting the same products that were offered before to be again reconsidered for this new project, although shortlisted products might have an advantage over others.

Among the potential candidates for the supply of MANPADS are:

* MBDA Mistral 3 – one of the shortlisted models under the Horizon 2 phase MANPADS requirements, it is an improvement of the older Mistral variants and has even been proven for use against surface targets. This is already in service with the Philippine Navy as the short-range air defense system found on the Jose Rizal-class frigates, and could find its way to several other ships for the same requirement. An older variant is already in service with the Presidential Security Group although they are reportedly under the safeguard of the Philippine Army’s Armor Division based on documents received by our parent page MaxDefense Philippines a few years ago.

* Raytheon FIM-92 Stinger – the main MANPADS of the Philippines’ only treaty ally, the United States. There are also reports that the Presidential Security Group are also in possession of a few of these missile systems, also safeguarded by the Philippine Army. The Stinger has proven its effectiveness and worth against Russian aircraft and drones in Ukraine, despite its older design. 

The FIM-92 Stinger MANPADS.

* LIG Nex1 Chiron – South Korea’s indigenous MANPADS that is now being offered for export. The Chiron is said to be a Korean copy of the older version of MBDA Mistral. Our parent page MaxDefense Philippines reported before that the Chiron, together with the Mistral 3, are among the top choice of the Philippine Army for its previous MANPADS Acquisition Project under Horizon 2.

The Chiron in service with the ROKA.

 

* Thales Starstreak Mk. II – the MANPADS of choice of the British armed forces, the system was also offered to the Philippine Army as part of the highly-mobile ForceSHIELD air defense system. It uses a Semi-Automatic Command to Line of Sight (SACLOS) using laser beam guidance system whose advantage includes resistance to jamming by infrared and/or radar/radio countermeasures, although it also means it is not a fire and forget system and exposes the operator.as he need to keep the laser on the arming unit on the target until impact. Starstreak is also considered a hyper-velocity missile due to its high speed, considered to be the fastest among current MANPADS in the market.

The Starstreak MANPADS. Photo credits to Wikimedia.

* Mesko Piorun NG – an improved version of the older Grom missile from Poland, including  improvements in the detection sensitivity that allowed for increased range, increased resistance to countermeasures, use of priximity fuse and improved night capability. The only issue at the moment is production is currently ramped up for European orders including supplying to Ukraine for use against Russia.

The Piorun and Piorun NG in a display. Photo c/o 

Due to CAATSA and the War in Ukraine, we do not expect Russian products to be included in any evaluation except for comparison purposes only.

 

Related Readings:

Further reading can be made on similar projects of the Philippine Army. Click the project names below which links to the respective resource page.

Man-Portable Air Defense System (MANPADS) Acquisition Project of the Philippine Army


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First posted and released on 31 January 2024
Copyright MaxDefense Philippines / Philippine Defense Resource

 

Civil Engineering Equipment Lot 1 - Dozers and Graders Acquisition Project of the Armed Forces of the Philippines

The Armed Forces of the Philippines raised a requirement to improve its engineering capabilities, as the military starts to modernize and improve its overall capability under the Revised AFP Modernization Program (RAFPMP).

This allowed the implementation of the AFP Civil Engineering Equipment Acquisition Project as part of the Horizon 1 Phase of the RAFPMP.

The project was divided into several lots, with this resource page focusing on Lot 1 involving the acquisition of Bulldozers and Graders.

One of the Philippine Army's HBXG SD5K bulldozers as seen in 2020. Photo credits to 52nd Engineering Brigade, Philippine Army.

Project Summary:

Civil Engineering Equipment Lot 1 - Dozers and Graders Acquisition Project of the Armed Forces of the Philippines:

Note: Edited as of 09 December 2023 but first posted on 27 January 2024.

* End User: Armed Forces of the Philippines (Service Support Units, Philippine Army, Philippine Navy, Philippine Air Force)

* Quantity: 12 units Bulldozers, 8 units Graders

* Modernization Phase: Horizon 2 Phase of RAFPMP

* Project ABC: PHP212,240,000.00

* Acquisition Mode: Public Bidding

* Source of Funding: AFP Modernization Trust Fund under GAA FY2017.

* SARO Release/s: SARO-BMB-D-17-0025063 dated 20 December 2017, released 22 December 2017

* Winning Proponent: Civic Merchandising Inc.

* Product for Delivery: unconfirmed, believed to be HBXG SD5K bulldozers and Sany STG180C-6 graders

* Contract Price: Php95,709,768.00

* Residual Amount: Php116,530,232.00

* First post by MaxDefense: 26 January 2015

* MaxDefense Searching Hashtag: #PAFPCEELot1Acquisition

* Project Status: First bidding attempt oepened on 19 October 2016, but this attempt failed and another bidding attempt oepend on 23 August 2017 and SOBE on 27 September 2017. SARO released worth PHP95,709,768 on 22 December 2017. NOA released in favor of local company Civic Merchandising Corp. on 09 January 2018, and the NTP was released on 12 July 2018 and contract signed by 23 July 2018. The projects were confirmed by sources to have been delivered as of 1st quarter of 2019. PROJECT COMPLETED.

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Overview:

As part of improving the civil engineering capabilities of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in general, the AFP Civil Engineering Equipment Acquisition Project was raised as part of the AFP Modernization Program's Horizon 1 Phase from 2013 to 2017.

Among those include the acquisition of bulldozers and graders needed for clearing and earthworks, road works, and for emergency HADR operations. These are usually undertaken by the engineering services of each of the AFP's service branches, which are also used to support development projects of the Philippine Government. 

The acquisition of bulldozers and graders were combined in a single subproject as Lot 1, which was allocated a budget of Php212,240,000.00 for 12 small bulldozers and 8 graders.

The procurement process was through public bidding, with the tender proceeding on 19 October 2016 with a scheduled Submission and Opening of Bid Envelopes (SOBE) by November 2016. This was pushed back several times until the SOBE was scheduled on 15 February 2017. 

The first bidding attempt failed, and another attempt was raised on 23 August 2017. This time the tender was successful and the project was awarded to local supplier Civic Merchandising Corp., which received the Notice of Award from the DND on 09 January 2018, and the Notice to Proceed on 12 July 2018. The Contract was signed as of 23 July 2018.

While it is unconfirmed what the company delivered, our parent page MaxDefense Philippines believes that they delivered Chinese-branded construction equipment, potentially the HBXG SD5K bulldozer and Sany STG180C-6 graders.

Both were said to have been delivered to the Philippine Army by 1st quarter of 2019, and were already seen in service with the some of the engineering brigades of the Philippine Army by mid 2019.

With the bulldozers and graders already delivered and formally activated with different service branches of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, MaxDefense officially consider the Civil Engineering Equipment Lot 1 - Dozers and Graders Acquisition Project of the Armed Forces of the Philippines as COMPLETED.

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First posted and released on 27 January 2024
Copyright MaxDefense Philippines / Philippine Defense Resource

Maritime Safety Capability Improvement Phase 3 Acquisition Project of the Philippine Coast Guard

As part of efforts by the Philippine Coast Guard to modernize and expand its fleet and Japan readily giving assistance to the Philippines to improve maritime safety and law enforcement capabilities, a project was brought out to fulfil these requirements with the help of Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA).

The ships will be used to respond to offshore and coastal maritime incidents such as Search and Rescue (SAR), Maritime Law Enforcement (MARLEN), Maritime Security (MARSEC) operations.

This resource page was initiated and originally written by one of MaxDefense Philippines' longtime  contributor, "Herbie", who also previously contributed and written for other resource pages here at Philippine Defense Resource. We thank Herbie for sharing and allowing his work to be posted in this page.

A Magbanua-class 97-meter Multi-Role Response Vessel of the Philippine Coast Guard. An improved version might be used for the new MSCI Phase 3 project. Photo credits to Global Business Press.

Project Summary:

Maritime Safety Capability Improvement Phase III Project of the Philippine Coast Guard

Note: Last edited as of 15 January 2024

End User: Philippine Coast Guard

Quantity: 5 units

Project ABC: Php 29,300,000,000.00

Acquisition Mode: Limited Source Bidding

Source of Funding: Official Development Assistance (ODA) from Japan

SARO Release: TBC

Winning Proponent: TBC

Product for Delivery: 5 units of 97-meter Multi-Role Response Vessel, still unconfirmed design

Contract Price: TBC

First post by MaxDefense: 20 March 2023

MaxDefense Searching Hashtag: 

Project Status: Publicly confirmed by the PCG on November 2023, as part of Japan's commitment to strengthen the capabilities of the PCG. Undergoing pre-procurement process as of 15 January 2024.

Overview:

Based on the Philippine Coast Guard's 2020 Acquisition Plan, the service aims to have at least ten Ocean Patrol Multi-Role Response Vessels (MRRVs), and thirty Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs).

One of the projects to achieve that Plan is the Phase III of the Maritime Safety Capability Improvement Project for the PCG (MSCIP Phase III), which aims to provide additional large ships to the service.

Credits to Philippine Coast Guard.

Through the years, the PCG stated its acquisition plans in different fora.

In May 2022, then PCG Commandant Admiral Artemio Abu stated that it is ideal to have a 97-meter MRRV for each of the PCG’s 15 Coast Guard Districts. 

Last June 2022, then CG Vice Admiral Eduardo Fabricante conveyed the possibility of procuring additional units of 97-meter MRRVs during a visit to the PCG by officials from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

In July 2022, the PCG submitted its proposal to the Department of Transportation (DoTr) for the acquisition of additional 97-meter MRRVs.

Also during a January 2023 visit of officials from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Japanese Embassy in the Philippines at the PCG Headquarters in Manila, then PCG Commandant Admiral Artemio Abu discussed the proposed acquisition of additional 97-meter MRRVs among other projects that are planned with Japanese assistance. During media interviews of this visit, the PCG Commandant mentioned the plans to acquire five additional 97 meter MRRVs was in progress with the DOTr and NEDA.

During various media interviews starting last February 2023 when the military-grade laser pointing incident by the China Coast Guard happened, PCG Spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela mentioned the PCG needs more than 20 offshore patrol vessels in its fleet.

Around March 2023, during the FY 2024 Budget Preparation, documents from the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) showed that the PCG submitted a project to procure five 80-100 meter ships with an estimated budget of around Php21 billion.

Finally last 09 November 2023, the NEDA Board approved the Php29.3 billion Maritime Safety Capability Improvement Project for the PCG, Phase 3, which will involve the design, construction, and delivery of five units of MRRVs, each with a length of 97 meters and with a five-year integrated logistics support.

According to JICA, it is estimated that a budget of approximately JPY 18 billion (~ Php7 billion) for five years will be required for O&M costs for the ships. With that, around Php22.3 billion will be used for the Consulting and Construction contracts for the five ships.

According to the DOTr, this project will complete the seven units needed to enable a minimum strategic deployment of capable coast guard vessels within our vast maritime jurisdiction particularly in our exclusive economic zones and extended continental shelf, with due regard for the competing budgetary requirements of the government vis a vis the challenges to our maritime safety and security.

A total of 380 personnel will be required for the five ships to be procured under this project. As part of the Lessons Learned of other Japanese ODA projects, it is important for this project to secure personnel with training in order to ensure safe operation of the ships.

And by continuing to have a Preventive Maintenance Policy (currently implemented in MSCIP Phase 1 and Phase 2 projects), the ships are aimed to have an operational life of 30 years.

From July 2022 when it was submitted to the DOTr for endorsement to the Embassy of Japan up to November 2023 when it was approved by the NEDA Board in just 15 months, this project can be seen as obviously expedited compared to other PCG projects. This can be a prime example of how a project can be prioritized even though working with a foreign partner like the JICA.

Sources:

* Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
* Philippines National Economic Development Authority (NEDA)
* Philippine Coast Guard

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First edit and release: 15 January 2024
Copyright MaxDefense Philippines / Philippine Defense Resource