Philippines will buy 2 Italian frigates from their maestro-class frigates. Maestro-class Frigates of the French Navy is primarily used as a support vessel for larger battleships that primarily carries anti-air missiles as well as anti-submarine armaments. Even though it was designed to be a support vessel, it is versatile and can stand on its own with saw actions on both UN and NATO Missions.
Philippines will officially acquire this 2 Italian frigates next year with the cost of 11.7 billion pesos or 280 million dollars. Extremely high compared with the recently acquired Hamilton class cutter that sells around 450 million pesos or 13 million dollars. But unlike the hamilton class cutter bought by the Philippines, These 2 Italian Frigates will include all their systems as well as all of their standard weapons/armaments. This means that they are ""good to go" unlike the hamilton class cutters.
It is unknown if this deal will also include missiles, shells and other rounds for the weapons as well as the 2 helicopters it can carry.
Here are a list of weapons/vehicles the Maestro-class frigate carries.
- 2 helicopters
- 1 main 127-mm gun
- 2 40-mm gun
- Albatross missile system that has 8 cells capable of carrying 8 missiles.
- 4 torpedo tubes of varying millimeters.
We can assume by looking at its weapons that It can hold out on its own against ships, planes as well as submarines. Even though I like the idea of the Philippines having large capable ships that can stand and fight if necessary, It would be better if they have just bought smaller ships but with more quantity. This way, we can cover more water and more territory than just 2-3 ships.
The Philippine delegate has also looked at the Lupo-class frigates which is the older version of the Maestro-class frigates.
