Philippine Navy commissions new corvette, attack craft
The Philippine Navy commissioned two of its newest ships in a joint ceremony at Naval Base Subic Bay on Tuesday, May 20.
The commissioning ceremony for the guided-missile corvette BRP Miguel Malvar (pictured) and the fast attack interdiction craft (FAIC) BRP Albert Majini was attended by Philippine President Ferdinand R Marcos Jr as guest of honour and coincided with the navy's 127th founding anniversary.
Miguel Malvar is the second Philippine Navy ship to be named after Miguel Carpio Malvar, a Filipino general who fought in the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine-American War.
Malvar and sister ship BRP Diego Silang were built by South Korea's HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI). The 118-metre Malvar-class corvettes will be used for anti-surface warfare and anti-air warfare alongside the navy’s two Jose Rizal-class frigates, which were also built by HHI and were delivered in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
Albert Majini is the first locally-built example of the 32-metre Acero-class FAICs, which are variants of the Shaldag Mark V patrol boats built by Israel Shipyards. All seven preceding Acero-class boats were built at Israel Shipyards' Haifa facilities while Majini was built at the Philippine Navy's own shipyard in Cavite province.
The FAIC's armament includes a 30mm autocannon, two 12.7mm machine guns, 7.62mm general purpose machine guns, and Rafael Spike NLOS anti-ship missiles that can strike targets up to 25 kilometres away. The autocannon and the 12.7mm machine guns are mounted on remote weapon stations while the 7.62mm guns will be manually operated.
The eighth Acero-class FAIC is named after Ensign Albert Majini, a Philippine Navy officer who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Valor, the Philippines' highest combat decoration, for his actions during anti-piracy operations in the country's southern waters in 1980.
