The Department of National Defense has awarded Israeli Rafael Advanced Defense Systems the contract to supply weapons system and missiles of Philippine Navy’s three (3) Multi-purpose Attack Crafts (MPAC).
According to the Notice of Award signed by National Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin addressed to Development and Marketing Director of Rafael Naval Warfare Systems, the contract price is PhP 594,319,550. The letter was conformed February 10, 2016.
Quantity of missiles and type of weapon systems were not mentioned in the Notice of Award, however, according to MaxDefense, “Rafael will supply 3 Mini Typhoon 12.7mm MG RWS mounts, and unspecified number of Spike-ER launchers and missile rounds plus ILS to the Philippine Navy.”
Weapons and missiles in the said contract will be fitted to 3 MPACs MkIII to be built by a joint venture between Filipino shipbuilder Propmech Corporation and Taiwanese builder Lung Teh Shipbuilding Corporation.
MPAC MkIII has provisions for remote weapon system for 12.7mm Heavy Machine Gun; missile launch system and its respective remote operating console inside the craft. MPAC Mk III will also have provisions for two M60/7.62mm Light Machine Gun. These MPACs will also be capable of storing 2,000 rounds for 12.7mm, 4,000 rounds for 7.62mm and 10 canisters of surface-to-surface missiles.
MPACs to be utilized as platforms for missile launch system will be delivered within 365 days.
The Philippine Navy is known to be operating six MPACs which are not armed with missiles. Three, 15-meter Mk I, were built by Lung Teh while the other three, 17-meter Mk II, were built by Propmech.