South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) said one of the two missile corvettes ordered by the Philippine Navy (PN) will be delivered by 2025 with the second in the following year. HHI added that the work schedule for the corvettes proceeded on schedule as construction started this May. HHI was referring to the steel cutting which is considered in naval circles as the start of the construction of a warship. It also added that construction for the second corvette will start this November. The Department of National Defense (DND) signed a PHP 28-billion contract with HHI for the acquisition of two brand-new corvettes for the PN on Dec. 27, 2021. Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) plan to deliver the first corvette by 2025 and the second corvette by 2026.
The company is on track for the target delivery dates as the construction of the vessels are on time. For the first corvette, the work commenced according to (the) original planned scheduled schedule of May 2023 and the first block will be laid by November this year. The corvettes are capable of anti-ship, anti-submarine, and anti-air warfare missions and will be more heavily armed than the Jose Rizal-class frigates. These ships will backstop the two Navy’s Jose Rizal-class frigates, also constructed by HHI. Hyundai Heavy Industries’ HDC-3100 corvette design, also known as the HDF-3100 frigate design, will become the benchmark design for the Philippine Navy’s future frigate.
It is an improved design of the HDF-2600 which was used on the Jose Rizal-class frigate, with a longer hull and a heavier displacement to accommodate increased subsystem requirements of the Philippine Navy. Based on open source information, the Jose Rizal-class frigate as baseline for the new corvettes while improvements will be added based on lessons learned from the said frigate’s development and construction from 2016 to 2020. The benchmark HDC-3100 has a length of 116 meters, a breadth of 14.8 meters, and a displacement of 3,100 tons, and will have a Combined Diesel and Diesel (CODAD) propulsion configuration allowing a maximum speed in excess of 25 knots and a range of up to 4,500 nautical miles.
It has space for a 76mm primary naval gun in A-position, a 16-cell VLS behind the primary naval gun, torpedo launchers on both port and starboard sides, and a gun-based close-in weapon system above the helicopter hangar. The space for the vertical launching system has been lengthened to accommodate a 16-cell system, and helicopter landing deck also appears to have been lengthened to allow longer helicopter designs. South Korean defense company Hanwha Systems has secured a contract to supply the new corvette’s combat management system (CMS). UK-based defense company SEA has been contracted by Hyundai Heavy Industries to supply the torpedo launching systems for the new corvettes, with SEA delivering two of their TLS systems to each of the corvettes.
