Propmech Corporation, a manila based boat
builder and engine repair company said
it is absolutely 100 sure it wants to
work with the government to develop
larger naval assets, that could be
deployed to the country's territorial
waters for long-haul patrol and security.
The navy, the government is an important
partner of ours, an important client, Propmech director glen Tong told defense
reporters during a virtual conference on
friday. "We are definitely interested and we look
forward to if given the opportunity in
the future," he said.
Since its establishment in 1991 the
company has sold P-7B worth of maritime
vessels to the government including
landing craft utility ships for the navy, high-speed tactical watercraft boats for
the philippine national police and
aluminum rescue boats for the philippine
coast guard.
Propmech's projects include the 12
units of the navy's multi-purpose attack
craft or max which have now evolved into
four variations and were built from 2007. The hacks play a key role in some of the
navy's internal security and coastal
defense operations.
The most notable was in early november
last year when air force and naval
operatives intercepted and clashed with
the notorious Abu Sayyaf group in the
sulu sea, killing all seven bandits on
board a speed boat.
While the air force provided aerial
support, the navy used one of its mpac
units to pursue the gunman at high sea. Propmech cited the max effective
ballistic armor that protected the
soldiers while coming under heavy fire
from the armed group.
The government in recent years has
acquired big-ticket items for the navy
abroad including its first ever missile
capable frigates from South Korea and
two warships from Indonesia. Defense and navy officials have also
expressed interest on patrol vessels
from israel and australia as part of the
country's continuing efforts to
strengthen its naval fleet.
Tong said while Propmech is keen on
collaborating with the navy to design
and build bigger ships for territorial
defense. he admits local shipbuilders
will need more than just the capacity to
build and maintain the vessels, but also
acquire expertise on additional
electronics, navigation and certain
special capabilities that their clients
will require.
"I think in terms of the ability to build
vessels, the philippines can actually do
a lot. We have some large-sized shipyards, we have some medium-sized shipyards a
lot of the assets can potentially be
built here what we lack is probably the
experience, the proven track record," Tong
explained
"It's one thing to be able to physically
build the ship another to have the
experience to make a warship," he added.
On the upside, tapping local shipyards to
build the navy's warships can be good
for the economy particularly the labor
sector. Propmech alone currently has about 600
employees.
One of our advantages if navy ships are
built locally is that we can do the
maintenance without having to fly
engineers from abroad
and we can keep the equipment in good
running conditions for a long time, Tong
said.
Defense secretary delfin lorenzana had
previously said instead of outsourcing
projects abroad he favors
philippine-based shipbuilding companies
to generate more jobs for filipinos, both
for the development and maintenance of
navy vessels.
The philippines has ordered two new
warships from south korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries, defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana said tuesday
modernizing manila's navy as it faces a
dispute with beijing in the south china
sea.
The philippine navy had become run down
in recent decades, even featuring us
craft from World War II until president
rodrigo duterte's
predecessor's.
P28 billion
556 million dollars deal with the south
korean shipbuilding giant comes five
years after the firm also won a contract
to build two new frigates for the
philippine navy. Corvettes and frigates are small, fast
warships mainly used to protect other
vessels from attack.
This project will give the philippine
navy to modern corvettes that are
capable of anti-ship, anti-submarine and
anti-air warfare missions, Lorenzana said
in a speech at the signing ceremony in
manila.
