Philippines, Turkey explore naval opportunities

The Philippines is considering co-operation with Turkey, with a view to potential procurements of naval vessels and associated equipment.

Vice Admiral Giovanni Carlo Bacordo, the chief of the Philippine Navy (PN), told the state-run Philippine News Agency (PNA) that a PN delegation has recently visited Turkey to “explore methods of collaboration” with the Turkish government.

He said in the PNA report dated 21 April that collaboration is aimed at “pursuing current and future modernisation efforts”. He said the PN is engaged in such discussions with military facility management firm ASFAT (Askeri Fabrika ve Tersane İşletme).

State-owned ASFAT was formed by the Ministry of National Defence in Turkey in 2018 to manage 27 military factories and three naval shipyards, and has access to 27,000 workers across the 30 factories and maintenance and repair centres.

Vice Adm Bacordo added, “[The Turkish side is] particularly interested in providing capability and technology solutions and be able to participate in the different acquisition projects for naval vessels and other defence equipment.”

In the naval domain, co-operation between the PN and Turkey has previously been focused on Turkish firm Aselsan’s provision of its SMASH 30 mm remote-controlled stabilised naval gun.

The system was integrated into the PN’s two José Rizal-class guided-missile frigates, which were built by South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI). The second and last of these vessels was commissioned by the PN in March.

Further co-operation between the Philippines and Turkey would be expected to be framed by an existing framework, signed by the two sides in December 2018. This defence-industrial memorandum of understanding (MOU) is geared towards facilitating defence trade and opportunities for co-production and research and development.