The future BRP Antonio Luna (FF151), the second missile-capable frigate of the Philippine Navy (PN), is set to arrive in the country on Feb. 10, 2021 from South Korea.
Commander Benjo Negranza, director of the Naval Public Affairs Office, said a joint inspection team from the Department of National Defense (DND) and PN already approved the delivery and acceptance of the frigate.
"Per agreed timeline, FF151 is scheduled to sail out of Ulsan, Korea on February 5, 2021 and is expected to arrive in Subic, Philippines on February 10, 2021," Negranza said in a statement Friday night.
According to Negranza, the DND-PN inspection team found Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), the South Korean contractor of the frigates, "compliant with all of its contractual deliverables and obligations."
The inspection team also declared that the second frigate was built "according to agreed technical specifications."
The future BRP Antonio Luna was subjected to harbor and sea trials, and actual ship inspection at the HHI shipyard in Ulsan from January 25 to 29, 2021; and from September 25 to December 18, 2020.
"The second frigate has satisfactorily passed all vessel performance test protocols," said Rear Admiral Alberto Carlos, chairman of the Frigate Technical Inspection and Acceptance Committee.
Further, Carlos bared that the HHI has provided to the Philippine Navy additional equipment and sustainment items, training activities, and ship design improvements worth US$7.4 million or an estimated P356 million above its contractual obligations.
The future BRP Antonio Luna is the sister frigate of BRP Jose Rizal (FF150). The BRP Jose Rizal was delivered to the country in May 2020 and commissioned into service two months later.
The two warships are the first pair of missile-capable frigates of the Philippine Navy. They are capable of conducting anti-air warfare (AAW), anti-surface warfare (ASUW), anti-submarine warfare (ASW), and electronic warfare (EW) operations.
The two frigates are part of a P16-billion frigate acquisition project of the Philippine Navy.