Philippines naval capability will be boost with the arrival of three frigates next year.

The Philippines naval capability will be boosted further with the arrival of three frigates next year. Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief General Benjamin Madrigal made the announcement on Friday, September 6, 2019, when he attended the 13th founding anniversary of the Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom).

BRP Jose Rizal (FF-150) represents the first of a new fleet of PH Navy ships capable of anti-warfare, anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare and electronic warfare operations. (Picture source Twitter Inquirer)

General Benjamin Madrigal said the first to arrive early next year is BRP Jose Rizal, a frigate class of the Philippine Navy that was launched in Ulsan, South Korea.

He said the additional frigate will complement the BRP Conrado, a Pohang Class, which arrived last month. The vessel is the Philippine Navy’s first modern corvette that has anti-air, surface and anti-submarine warfare capability. The addition of naval ships is aimed to increase AFP capability and ensure the sovereign security of the country while protecting the welfare of the Filipino people, especially the fishermen, he added.

The missile-armed frigate BRP Jose Rizal (FF-150), was launched in May 2019 at the shipyard of Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) in South Korea's southeastern city of Ulsan, is the first combat vessel to be designed and purposely acquired for the Philippine Navy (PN).

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 a design specifically accommodated to fit the requirements of the Philippine Navy.

This ship will be equipped with a variety of sensors and armed with weapons capable of detecting and neutralizing surface, sub-surface and air threats.