The detection of a Russian attack submarine in Occidental Mindoro last week has stirred anew discussions on the possible acquisition of submarines by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad, Philippine Navy (PN) spokesperson for West Philippine Sea (WPS), said the program “never died”, in fact, it is already at the level of the Department of National Defense (DND).
“The submarine program hindi naman siya namatay (it never died). It is now at the Department of National Defense level. We submit, we defer to their wisdom on how it will proceed,” he said on Tuesday, Dec. 3.
“Our underwater, undersea warfare capability is still modest. It is still ongoing development. We have that modest capability but we have greater capabilities to track surface assets, surface targets,” he added.
In 2019, then president Rodrigo Duterte approved the Navy’s plan to buy two units of submarine but it got stalled as budget constraints struck the DND due to the Covid-19 pandemic. All the resources had to be refocused on the government’s plan to combat the deadly disease.
Under the current administration, President Marcos Jr. announced in May 2023 that the acquisition of submarines still forms part of the country’s defense plan.
“It is still part of our plan. But right now, we are in the middle of developing mostly our anti-submarine capabilities. That’s what we are going to do first and then hopefully when the time comes and the conditions are agreeable, then we might be able to acquire those submarines,” he said.
The AFP has included the procurement of submarine in its wish list for the “Re-horizon 3” modernization program, which was approved by Marcos in December 2023 with a budget of P2 trillion to enhance the country’s deterrence capabilities amid China’s activities in the WPS.
AFP chief General Romeo Brawner Jr. had said that the acquisition program would likely involve diesel-electric submarines, like the Russian “Ufa” vessel detected in Occidental Mindoro, and may cost P80 billion to P110 billion.
READ: DND buying two modern submarines - official
But the acquisition involves a lot of planning as the operation of submarines will be a first for the Philippines, which means it needs to have crews trained to operate and maintain them, and bases that can house the underwater vessels.
For now, the Navy is focused on improving its anti-submarine capabilities, according to Trinidad, which helped them to detect the Ufa 490 attack submarine 80 nautical miles off Lubang Island in Occidental Mindoro last Nov. 28.
“The modernization has, number one, a very strong C4ISR [Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance] component for maritime domain awareness, telling us what is out there,” Trinidad said.
For the month of November, the PN said that almost 13,000 different vessels were monitored over the archipelago, including 58 China Coast Guard ships and People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy vessels, and the Russian submarine.
READ: AFP, PCG detect Russian submarine in Occidental Mindoro. Here's why.
“We were concerned when we first detected the Russian submarine. It was detected first by the Western Command using their ISR [Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance] capabilities,” Trinidad admitted.
According to the official, the submarine was accompanied by two support vessels.
“They mentioned that they came from Kota Kinabalu for an exercise with the Royal Malaysian Navy and were headed to Vladivostok, Russia. In the presence, in the vicinity, within eight to 10 nautical miles were two other surface support vessels, a rescue tug and a support vessel,” Trinidad shared.
“The support vessel mentioned that they were there to refuel the submarine. While it is true that submarines are designed to travel not only on the surface but also submerged, and when submerged, they have less effects on the weather, the context of the situation is most likely they were there to receive fuel, to charge their batteries in as much as a kilo-plus is a diesel-electric submarine, or probably to do some minor repairs for whatever derangement they incurred,” he explained.
The PN allayed the concerns of Marcos and the entire Filipino nation, as the passage of the Russian submarine was allowed under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), saying submarines or ships need not seek permission of a coastal state when transiting the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of that coastal state.
“The worry, the concern, the alarm was on the first instance of detecting a submarine. It's not every day that you detect a submarine in your EEZ. It is understandable that even our men monitoring our sensors were surprised why there was a submarine. This necessitated the sending of aircrafts and a frigate to do visual confirmation,” Trinidad said.
“The diesel-electric submarine would require every now and then to surface either periscope depth to charge their batteries or to receive supplies, fuel, or to repair any minor derangements. It could also be seen as a signaling to show that we are here. But for the context of the situation, it was more of to receive fuel or supplies or to do some minor derangement repairs,” he added.
According to PN, the Russian submarine has already left the country’s EEZ.