Plans are afoot to upgrade the two Hamilton-class cutters in the Philippine Navy (PN) service, according to a ranking official of the naval service.
Vice Admiral Alexander Pama, PN flag officer-in-charge, said that upgrades of the BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PF-15) and BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PF-16) will make the latter more capable of carrying out their frigate designations.
The BRP Gregorio del Pilar is the former United States Coast Guard cutter Hamilton while the BRP Ramon Alcaraz is her sister, the Dallas.
Pama declined to state what the additional configurations will be.
He earlier said that the PN has spent an additional $5 million in upgrading the BRP Ramon Alcaraz, which is currently refitting at South Carolina.
“We spent an additional $5 million (to install these new weapons and equipment) on top of the original $10 million cost of BRP Ramon Alcaraz,” he added.
Sources earlier said that the BRP Gregorio del Pilar and the soon-to-arrive BRP Ramon Alcaraz — will most likely get Harpoon missile refits to make them more capable of engaging intruders violating Philippine territorial waters.
Aside from the Harpoons, the two ships will also be fitted with more sophisticated radars capable of detecting and tracking down incoming surface threats and anti-missile and torpedo decoying systems.
“These upgrades will make our Hamilton-class cutters more capable vessels. It will definitely satisfy our minimum deterrent capability as far as naval defense is concerned,” the official, who requested anonymity, said.
He added that the Harpoon is the ideal missile system for the Hamilton-class cutters as USCGC Mellon, the sister ships of the two in PN service, has been fitted with the Harpoon missile launchers.
She also received an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) suite, including the AN/SQS-26 sonar and Mark 46 torpedoes.
The ASW suite and Harpoon capability were removed due to fiscal constraints in the latter part of the 1990s, but served as a proof of capability for all USCG cutters.
Hamilton-class cutters have a displacement of 3,250 tons, a length of 378 feet, beam of 43 feet, and draft of 15 feet.
Under PN service, all of the above-mentioned weapons and sensor systems were removed with the exception of the Oto Melara Mark-75 76mm main gun.
“With the Harpoon, we will not be getting an unproven weapon system as the missile has been successfully test- fired from the USCGC Mellon,” the official stressed.
The weapons refit will probably be done in the US as the deal will be a government-to-government one.
The regular Harpoon uses active radar homing, and a low-level, sea-skimming cruise trajectory to improve survivability and lethality.