The Philippine Navy's (PN) brand new frigate, BRP Jose Rizal (FF-150), has arrived in Hawaii, United States Saturday (Philippine time) to participate in the biennial Rim of the Pacific Exercise 2020 (RIMPAC20), the largest joint and naval drill in the world.
Lieutenant Commander Maria Christina Roxas, acting director of the naval public affairs office, said BRP Jose Rizal docked in Joint Base Pearl Harbor-HICKAM ahead of the RIMPAC 2020, which will be held from August 17 to 31.
She stressed that the exercise "will give a unique training opportunity" for the participating navies to "enhance their proficiency to integrate into an international force and improve readiness to contribute to a wide range of potential coalition operations."
"The Philippine Navy, through this participation, aims to advance its maritime operational capability to multilateral level thereby increasing readiness and interoperability," she added.
The 120-member contingent were welcomed by officials from the Philippine Consulate General to Honolulu, Hawaii led by Consul General Joselito Jimeno.
While entering Pearl Harbor, Roxas said the crew of the frigate manned the rail and rendered salute to two US Navy battleships, the USS Missouri and USS Arizona, in honor of the fallen heroes during the World War II.
The contingent was not allowed to embark the ship as part of health protocols due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Instead, Captain Jerry Garrido, the skipper of the frigate, talked to Consul General Jimeno over the phone to thank the latter for the warm welcome rendered to the crew after the mooring of the ship.
With the arrival of BRP Jose Rizal in Hawaii, Garrido said he considers the exercise as an opportunity to "provide the PN with the latest training and techniques in modern naval warfare."
Vice Admiral Giovanni Carlo Bacordo, PN Flag Officer in Command, earlier defended his decision to send the crew to Hawaii for the RIMPAC20 despite the threat of the pandemic.
He said the naval drill will be a good opportunity for the crew of the frigate to test the ship's capabilities in the four dimensions of modern warfare namely anti-air warfare, anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, and electronic warfare.
BRP Jose Rizal, also the PN's first ever missile-capable frigate, is capable of all of these warfares.
"If they find something that we think should be tweaked (in the ship's features), then we will be able to forward our concerns to the manufacturer and have it fixed," Bacordo had said in a news forum last week.
This year's RIMPAC Exercise will be executed purely at sea, contrary to the previous iterations.
The exercise will be held for two weeks, much shorter compared to the month-long event in 2018.
The PN contingent will participate in surface, air, sub-surface and maritime security operations along with the other participants from nine countries, about 20 ships and 5,300 personnel.
Aside from the Philippines, other countries which will participate in the exercise include US, the host of the drill, Australia, Brunei, Canada, France, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Korea.