Ambassador Pedro “Junie” Laylo, Jr. and Commodore Carlo Lagasca attended the ocean trial ceremony for 2 Philippine Navy (PN) quick missile boats on the Israel Shipyards in Haifa, Israel. The 2 quick missile boats (Quick Assault Interdiction Craft – Missile / FAIC-Ms) are a part of the eight vessels the Philippine Navy is procuring beneath Horizon 2 of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Modernization Program. Below the PHP 10 billion venture, Israel Shipyards will construct six vessels in Haifa whereas three quick missile boats shall be inbuilt Philippine Navy’s shipyard in Cavite.
Two of the FAIC-Ms have already entered service within the Philippine Navy whereas the 2 inspected by the Philippine delegation are anticipated to be delivered in April 2023. Ambassador Laylo and the PN crew, accompanied by Protection and Armed Forces Attaché Col. Ewald Manay, have been welcomed to the Israel Shipyards facility by SK Group Chair Samy Katsav and CEO Eitan Zucker. The Philippine Embassy in Israel continues to play an essential position in facilitating the procurement of key protection articles and army gear to strengthen and modernize the capabilities of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
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The Philippine Navy is anticipating to obtain 9 Shaldag Mk V quick patrol boats ordered from Israel Shipyards. The boats, which are supposed to meet a PN requirement for missile-capable quick assault interdiction craft (FAIC-M), shall be initially deployed within the ‘Mindanao space of accountability’ the place there are “steady operations in opposition to native terrorist teams and communist terrorist teams. The 32.65 m-long vessels are “finest suited working in these environments to behave as an efficient deterrent not solely in opposition to the terrorist teams but additionally in opposition to different lawless components working within the littoral areas.
The Shaldag-class patrol boat (Kingfisher) is a small however quick class of patrol boats developed for the Israeli Navy and launched in 1989, it has since seen service with a number of different navies. The vessels are armed with a Storm Weapon Station, mounting a Bushmaster M242 and electro-optics methods. They’re geared up with foredeck and aftdeck rings for Oerlikon 20 mm cannon and a single gun mount. There are spigots for 0.5-inch machine weapons on each side of the principle deck. The Philippine Navy Shaldag Mark II variants are geared up with Spike NLOS missiles with pinpoint accuracy and a variety of 25 kilometers.
