The BRP Jose Rizal (FF-150)guided-missile frigates of the Philippines Navy arrived in Subic Bay on Saturday May 23, 2020, after a five-day trip from Ulsan, South Korea. The new frigate left South Korea for its delivery to the Philippines on 18 May 2020. BRP Jose Rizal (FF-150) is the lead ship of her class, ordered for the Philippine Navy. It is also the first purpose-built frigate of the service, as its major warships were mostly transferred from other navies and reclassified as frigates. It will become one of the service’s primary warships and take over multi-role operations such as coast patrol and anti-submarine warfare.
The (FF-150) was designed and built by South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and was based on the HDF-2600 frigate design, which in turn was derived from the Incheon-class frigate of the Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN). It also features a low free-board design similar also to the Daegu-class and the HTMS Bhumibol Adulyadej of the Royal Thai Navy. The frigates will improve the capability of Philippine Navy’s Offshore Combat Force which is mostly composed of aging fleet of retired ships transferred from other countries like Gregorio del Pilar-class offshore patrol vessel.
The Jose Rizal, temporarily identified as Hull P159, had its First Steel Cutting Ceremony on 1 May 2018, marking the start of construction work. The keel was laid down on 16 October 2018 at HHI’s Ulsan shipyard. The new frigate, named after national hero Jose Rizal, was commissioned into service on June 19, 2019, the hero’s birthday. The lead ship, temporarily identified as Hull P159, had its First Steel Cutting Ceremony on 1 May 2018, marking the start of construction work. The keel was laid down on 16 October 2018 at HHI’s Ulsan shipyard. The Keel Laying ceremony was held on 16 October 2018, and the Launching was held on 23 May 2019.
The BRP Jose Rizal have a standard displacement of about 2,600 tons and a length of 107 meters. The diesel main power plant under the CODAD scheme should provide full speed of 25 knots, a cruising range of 4500 nautical miles at a speed of 15 knots. The armament of the BRP Jose Rizal includes Oto Melara 76 mm Super Rapid Gun, ASELSAN SMASH 30mm Secondary Guna and S&T Motiv 12.7mm K6 Heavy Machine Guns. Aside from the options, Hyundai and the Philippine Navy agreed to use the following weapon systems: Simbad RC with Mistral missiles, 8-cell Vertical Launching System (FFBNW) and LIGNex1 SSM-700K C-Star Anti Ship Missile and SEA Triple Trainable Torpedo Launchers.
