Sea trials for BRP Jose Rizal-class frigate of the Philippine Navy.

The first multi-mission capable frigate, the BRP Jose Rizal of the Philippine Navy, will undergo sea trials starting Saturday, November 23, 2019, in South Korea. It is expected that it will be delivered in April or May 2020.

The first of the two units of multi-mission capable frigate of the Philippine Navy (PN), FF150, undergoes various sea trials from 23-27 Nov conducted by the technical crew of Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI). (Picture source Philippine Navy)

The technical crew of the builders Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) will take the brand new warship out for a 5-day spin in the open waters off Ulsan, Busan, and Mokpo in South Korea to measure its performance and general seaworthiness, the Philippine Navy said in a statement.

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 South Korean Company Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) designed according to requirements of the Philippine Navy.

This ship is capable of conducting Anti-Air Warfare (AAW), Anti-Surface Warfare (ASUW), Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) and Electronic Warfare (EW) Operations. It is fully equipped with Surface-to-Air and Surface-to-Surface Missiles, torpedoes, launchers, and weapon systems.

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.