Second sea trials for BRP Antonio Luna missile frigate of Philippine Navy.

According to a statement published by the Philippine government on December 7, 2020, the Philippine Navy missile frigate, BRP Antonio Luna (FF-151), will undergo a test of its communications system as part of its second sea acceptance trials this week.
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BRP Antonio Luna (FF-151) missile frigate of Philippine Navy. (Picture source philippinedefenseupdates)

The BRP Antonio Luna missile frigate test would be conducted off the waters of Ulsan, South Korea, PN public affairs office chief Lt. Commander Maria Christina Roxas said in an interview with the Philippine News Agency (PNA) Monday, December 7, 2020.

The BRP Antonio Luna (FF-151) is the second ship of the Jose Rizal-class frigate ordered by the Philippines to South Korea. The ship was designed and built by South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI). BRP Antonio Luna was launched on Nov. 8, 2019 at the Ulsan facility of South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries. Its keel-laying on May 23, 2019, coincided with the launch of BRP Jose Rizal.

The Jose Rizal-class is multi-role guided missile frigates manufactured for the Philippine Navy. On 24 October 2016, the contract to supply two brand new general purpose stealth frigates was signed between the Department of National Defense, represented by Defense Sec. Delfin Lorenzana, and Hyundai Heavy Industries, represented by its Senior Vice President Mr. Ki Sun Chung, under the presence of officials from the DND, AFP, PN, HHI, and the South Korean Ambassador to the Philippines.

The Jose Rizal-class frigate is built based on the Incheon/FFX-I/HDF-3000-type multi-purpose frigate of the Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN), which offers increased operational performance and enhanced survivability.

The armament of the BRP Antonio Luna 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.

The BRP Antonio Luna frigate has a standard displacement of about 2,600 tons and a length of 107 meters. The diesel main power plant under the CODAD scheme should provide full speed of 25 knots, a cruising range of 4500 nautical miles at a speed of 15 knots.