USCGC Mellon and Douglas Munro Available?

With tensions running high in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) the glaring need for additional hulls for the Philippines is back in the spotlight.  More than 200 Chinese "fishing vessels" moored close to Julian Felipe reef for several months, citing bad weather as the reason for their prolonged stay in the area.  With no storms in sight, the Philippines "fired off" several protests while sending in a handful of coast guard and BFAR ships to the area.  The Philippines has so far refrained from sending in the bulk of its offshore combat force, opting to dispatch relatively lightly armed and smaller vessels into the area.  With still no resolution in sight, the lack of assets remains and the Philippine Navy nor the Coast Guard have any ships on order.

The Philippine Navy only has a handful of combat ready vessels which by all accounts are relatively lightly armed.  Two OPVs are currently in drydock with the BRP Andres Bonifacio undergoing maintenance while the flagship, BRP Del Pilar is still undergoing repairs after badly damaging its propellers 2 years ago.  The two new acquisitions, the Jose Rizal light frigates are relatively undergunned having postponed the purchase of their close in weapons systems and VLFS. 

BRPs Bonifacio and Del Pilar. 

In total, the offshore combat force totals a mere 9 ships consisting of the aforementioned pair of "tweener" frigates from Korea, 3 former Hamilton class US coast guard cutters, 1 former Korean Pohang class corvette and 3 former UK Peacock class patrol craft.  The ongoing Felipe reef incident has more than 200 Chinse vessels swarming the area so the imbalance in numbers in glaring.  The Philippines is in dire need for assistance.      

Maxdefense has posted two separate entries recently detailing possible plans to beef up the fleet immediately with retired and decommissioned US assets.  The "boats" on offer from the US would be a trio of Cyclone class littoral patrol craft, sister ships of the BRP Mariano Alvarez (shown left), which come in at roughly 350 tons and 52 meters.  The Cyclones would be a welcome addition to the littoral combat force, all the more since several PN ships of that size are up for retirement.  Relatively lightly armed with only 2 RCWS and other light machine guns, the patrol craft will still be able to bridge the gap between now and when the Shaldag patrol craft come on line in 2 or 3 years time.  Cyclones have carried stinger missiles in the past and could likely be outfitted with Rafael's SPIKE ER or even NLOS missiles, which will eventually be utilized on the Shaldags.

Meanwhile, Maxdefense also notes that there are "ships" being offered by the US to the Philippines

USCGC Munro

with the former and familiar US coast guard cutter being one of them.  The last 2 Hamilton class cutters have since been decommissioned, the USCGC Mellon and USCGC Douglas Munro, and although both had previously been earmarked for other countries (Vietnam and Bahrain), it remains to be seen if the US diverts these vessels to an offer to her longest standing ally in the hotspot West Philippine sea.

The Philippines should definitely jump at acquiring both the Cyclone class patrol craft and one or even both of the Hamilton cutters as they represent a quick and easy stop gap measure to beefing up our roster of ships.  Both ship classes have existing sister ships in service with the Philippine navy which would limit the need for extended training and maintenance for these vessels given our sailors' familiarity with the said ships.  And although we expect the US to strip down these ships to the bare bones, 5 additional hulls at the ready would still represent an upgrade from nothing. The cutters have proven to be a dependable platform and would represent a cost effective solution as the planned corvette acquisition project appears to be delayed.  Meanwhile, although the PN has the Shaldags on order for its littoral combat force, the Cyclones would fill in the need immediately as more assets are long overdue for retirement.

BRP Mariano Alvarez

We can hope to retrofit and slap some cost effective armaments to help round out the prospective acquisitions.

For the Hamilton cutters, the US will likely turn over the ships with only the 76mm Oto Melara.  We can simply follow the blue print of her sister ships the BRP Alacaraz and Del Pilar by adding on a pair of Mk.Mod3 remote control weapons systems mid ships while also tacking on a pair of SIMBAD RC launchers to provide short range air defense.  Lastly, the PN can also mount an auto canon aft where the Phalanx CIWS is positioned.  Wish list of course is to equip these vessels with some long range anti-ship missiles, perhaps like the Haeseong C-star missiles found on the Rizals but I doubt the Navy will cough up the dough for that.  The Cyclones meanwhile will likely only retain the 2 RCWS auto cannons fore and aft and the PN can simply augment this with a single SPIKE NLOS launcher to push out the patrol craft's strike range.    

BRP Alcaraz

The Philippines should jump at the opportunity to load up on up to 5 additional hulls at the cheap while also representing very effective stop gap measures to the hull shortage problem.  Familiarity with both classes of ships will help ease the transition while the PN will only need to tack on a couple of band aid remedies to the probable armament that they will be delivered with.  Here's to hoping we get more of the venerable Hamiltons and welcome a trio of new Cyclones at the soonest.