South Korean shipbuilder HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) launched a new Philippine Navy corvette at its Ulsan facilities in a ceremony on Thursday, March 27.
The future BRP Diego Silang is the second of two Miguel Malvar-class corvettes that HHI is building for the Philippine Navy. Class lead ship BRP Miguel Malvar is itself nearing completion and is scheduled for delivery to the Philippines in April.
Upon completion, the future Diego Silang will have a length of 118.4 metres, a beam of 14.9 metres, and a displacement of 3,200 tonnes. The ship will be fitted with an AESA radar, a 76mm naval gun, a 35mm close-in weapon system, 12.7mm machine guns, anti-ship cruise missiles, and a vertical launch system for surface-to-air missiles.
Aviation facilities will include a flight deck and hangar for use by a 12-tonne helicopter.
The future Diego Silang is named after a Filipino politician and independence activist who led a brief but failed uprising against Spanish colonisers in the northern Philippines' Ilocos region from 1762 until his assassination in 1763.
The Miguel Malvar-class corvettes were built in fulfilment of a contract awarded in late 2021 by the Philippine Department of National Defense.
Editor's note: Silang's wife Gabriela, who led the revolt following his assassination, is the namesake of BRP Gabriela Silang, an offshore patrol vessel that was delivered to the Philippine Coast Guard in 2020. Click here to read Baird Maritime's vessel review of Gabriela Silang.