A well-reasoned, thoroughly researched, idea is not “proven wrong” by merely saying “many people disagree with it”. While popularity shows how many people share an opinion, numbers alone don’t prove that that opinion was actually correct in the first place. It could very well show how many people “just don’t get it”.

Fixed a forum permissions issue that denied access to specific fora when logged on with a non-Tyro account. The forum is active as of this posting.

http://defenseph.net/drp/index.php

Security update implementation in progress. We’ll be back very soon.

Updates will be available here, or the forum’s FB extension: https://www.facebook.com/groups/rpdefense/

As Duterte plays the US against China, and even Russia in a Cold War-style diplomatic gambit not unlike what Yugoslavia, Egypt did with the West and the USSR, it is important to ask:

What does the Philippines REALLY brings to the table?

A failure to assess our relative value to either side could very well result in overplaying our hand. Discuss this on the forum here: http://defenseph.net/drp/index.php?topic=527.0.

The Philippine Air Force currently has three separate bid invitations to supply spares for its CASA C295 cargo aircraft with a combined value of P67.96M. The Pre-Bid Conference for all three invites are set for November 2, 2016 at the PAF Procurement Center Conference Room in Villamor Air Force Base. Bids will be opened on the 15th.

The PAF has three C295s in its inventory, all of which were delivered in 2015.  The first aircraft was delivered on March 30, 2015, while the second aircraft arrived on September 15, 2015, and the third arrived on December 11, 2015.

All three bids are being monitored on the DefensePH.net forum here.

Nothing confirms the impending transfer or an EDA asset like a PhilGEPS invitation seeking bidders for contracts to refurbish the acquisition target. The long reported, and mysterious, Pohang class corvette from South Korea has not only been confirmed in this manner, it has also been identified. See the relevant PhilGEPS invite below:

Rumors of a potential Pohang class transfer first surfaced in 2011. However a formal announcement of the transfer was not made till 2014. Additional discussions about this acquisition are available here.

The ROKS Mokpo (PCC-759) was the fourth ship in the Pohang Class to be built. Produced by Daewoo SB & Hvy Mach., Okpo in 1988. It is the last of the class to be optimized for Anti-Surface Warfare (ASuW) and armed with Exocet Surface-to-Surface Missiles (SSM). Subsequent members of the class geared towards for Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) missions.

In Korean service, it was armed with 2 MM38 Exocet launchers, a single 76mm Oto Melara DP gun, 2 twin Emerlec AA guns, and 2 triple 324mm ASW torpedo tubes. Its air search capability stemmed from a Raytheon SPS-64 radar, and for ASW functionality, it was equipped with a Thales PHS-32 hull mounted sonar. As of writing it is unclear how much of this equipment would be retained in the transfer.

Unlike the Hamilton class WHECs whose gas turbines were of an older variant that were used exclusively by the class, the Pohang is powered by the significantly more commercially successful General Electric LM-2500 which is the gold standard for marine gas turbines. For low-consumption transit, the Mokpo relies on its two MTU 12V956 diesel engines.

Photo c/o itiexue.net

References

Combat Fleets of the World, 15th Edition

Naval Technology.com

While this site is focused on PH media gaffs, it is also important to point out that press gaffes are not restricted just to Filipino reporters. So as an indulgence in “misery loves company”, here is a gaffe from our northern neighbor.

That being said . . . we slip up this way too.