More countries interested to supply Philippines’ first submarine

November 22, 2018

Defense contractors from Sweden, Germany, France, South Korea, Japan and the United States have signified interest in giving the Philippines' first submarine.

“There are scores who are willing (to provide the navy) with submarines. even the US is interested in selling us their submarine,” Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Thursday.

Lorenzana said a submarine is "very, very expensive." 

“It’s very very expensive and before its actual acquisition, we must first build a submarine base and also we have to train people. It took Malaysia three to ten years before they could master their own submarine operations,” Lorenzana said.

 Vice Admiral Robert Empedrad, the Navy chief, said the submarine project, in principle, has been approved by senior defense department officials.

“We are continuously processing it because if we have some (submarines) of it, I believe it is a strategic deterrence. Our enemies will think twice before engaging or grabbing any of our islands or bully us,” Empedrad said. DMS