By Priam Nepomuceno/PNA
MANILA — A lot of submarine-producing countries have expressed interest to sell their submarines to the Philippines.
This was bared by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana in a press conference on Wednesday, shortly after the successful capability demonstration of the Philippine Navy’s newly-acquired and installed Rafael Advanced Defense Ltd. Spike-ER (extended range) surface-to-surface missile system off Lamao Point, Limay, Bataan.
“Marami (a lot of nations like) Russia, Sweden, France, (South) Korea, Japan, everybody that has capabilities (in producing submarines) (are) interested in selling (submarines) to us, even the US (United States),” he added.
Lorenzana emphasized that they are still looking at, and studying the offers to determine which is the best one for the country.
The DND chief also stressed that it is high time for the Philippines to acquire submarines as it is the only country in ASEAN, aside from landlocked countries in the region, which do not operate the specialized submersible watercraft.
He, however, admitted that submarines are expensive pieces of equipment that require infrastructures like basing and intense training for the crew to become truly effective.
“Submarines are a very expensive equipment (to maintain and operate), lahat ng mga bansa diyan sinasabi na mahal, very expensive (all countries operating such craft say that they are expensive) and bago ka makabili ng submarines (before you can buy) submarines, (you must think first about building a base to house them) and you also have to train people,” Lorenzana added.
