Ambassador Pedro “Junie” Laylo, Jr. and Commodore Carlo Lagasca attended the sea trial ceremony for two Philippine Navy (PN) fast missile boats at the Israel Shipyards in Haifa, Israel. The two fast missile boats (Fast Attack Interdiction Craft – Missile / FAIC-Ms) are part of the eight vessels the Philippine Navy is procuring under Horizon 2 of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Modernization Program. Under the PHP 10 billion project, Israel Shipyards will build six vessels in Haifa while three fast missile boats will be built in Philippine Navy’s shipyard in Cavite.
Two of the FAIC-Ms have already entered service in the Philippine Navy while the two inspected by the Philippine delegation are expected to be delivered in April 2023. Ambassador Laylo and the PN team, accompanied by Defense and Armed Forces Attaché Col. Ewald Manay, were 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 important role in facilitating the procurement of key defense articles and military equipment to strengthen and modernize the capabilities of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
The Philippine Navy is expecting to receive nine Shaldag Mk V fast patrol boats ordered from Israel Shipyards. The boats, which are meant to meet a PN requirement for missile-capable fast attack interdiction craft (FAIC-M), will be initially deployed in the ‘Mindanao area of responsibility’ where there are “continuous operations against local terrorist groups and communist terrorist groups. The 32.65 m-long vessels are “best suited operating in these environments to act as an effective deterrent not only against the terrorist groups but also against other lawless elements operating in the littoral areas.
The Shaldag-class patrol boat (Kingfisher) is a small but fast class of patrol boats developed for the Israeli Navy and launched in 1989, it has since seen service with several other navies. The vessels are armed with a Typhoon Weapon Station, mounting a Bushmaster M242 and electro-optics systems. They are equipped with foredeck and aftdeck rings for Oerlikon 20 mm cannon and a single gun mount. There are spigots for 0.5-inch machine guns on both sides of the main deck. The Philippine Navy Shaldag Mark II variants are equipped with Spike NLOS missiles with pinpoint accuracy and a range of 25 kilometers.
