The Philippine Department of National Defense (DND), represented by Dir. Pablo Lorenzo, LCDR Jonathan Morales, LCDR Chat Alfie Rosario, Maj. Justine Santos, and LT. Maryam Balais, and PT PAL Persero, represented by Mr. Didik, Mrs. Ani, Mr. Aji, Mr. Bayu, and Mrs. Suci made a Courtesy Call on Philippine Ambassador to Indonesia, H.E. Leehiong Wee on April 11, 2022. PT PAL Persero has been declared as the lowest calculated bidder (LCB) for the Landing Dock Acquisition Project (LDAP) in Jakarta and Surabaya, Indonesia from 10 to 16 April 2022.
The vessels for acquisition were expected to be improvements of the two Tarlac-class strategic sealift vessels currently in the Navy’s inventory—the BRP Tarlac (LD-601) and BRP Davao del Sur (LD-602)—both built by Indonesian shipbuilder PT Pal Persero. The DND is allocating P5.56 billion for two strategic sealift vessels, with four landing craft utility and four units of rigid hull inflatable boats. An invitation to bid dated Sept. 30 2021 was posted on the DND’s official website.
The Tarlac class are landing platform docks of the Philippine Navy meant for amphibious operations and transport duties in support of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The class was initially called the “Strategic Sealift Vessel” before being formally named. The ships will also double as a support platform for Humanitarian and Disaster Relief (HADR) and Search & Rescue (SAR) operations. Two ships were constructed by the PT PAL Indonesia based on the Indonesian Navy’s Makassar class.
Construction of the first unit already started in January 2015 and was delivered in July 2016, while the second unit started a few months after and delivered by 2017 after going through sea trials. The lead ship was launched on 17 January 2016 as BRP Tarlac. The second ship was delivered on 10 May 2017 and named as BRP Davao del Sur. The ship is packaged with four units KAAV-7 amphibious assault vehicles (AAV), two units Daesun 23-meter (75 ft) landing craft utility LCU-23 and four units of 9.8-meter (32 ft) rigid-hulled inflatable boats. The ship also have a hangar for one (1) medium (10-ton) helicopter and a flight deck for two (2) medium (10-ton) helicopters.
