By Florante S. Solmerin | Jan. 31, 2015 at 12:25am
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Officer-in-Command Vice Admiral Jesus Millan said PT PAL Indonesia
(Persero) is building two ships for P3.87 billion to serve as floating
command center with heliports.
“The Philippine Navy is expecting the first and second Strategic
Sealift Vessels (SSV) to be delivered not later than May 2016 and May
2017, respectively,” he said in a statement.
Millan
On November 18, 2014, the Navy said the Department of National
Defense (DND) declared Persero as the “single calculated responsive
bidder” for the sealift acquisition project.
It approved by Defene Secretary Voltaire Gazmin through memorandum
2012-060 on October 30, 2013 with a P4-billion budget sourced from the
Modernization Act Trust Fund of the Armed Forces of the Philippines
According to Millan, the sheips are also intended for humanitarian assistance and disaster response.
“These vessels are critical assets for civil-military operations due
to their capability of transporting large number of soldiers, logistics,
and supplies,” he said.
“Each SSV has the capacity to house three helicopters. The Navy’s
Augusta Westland-109s are programmed to be on-board components of these
vessels.”
Last January 22, Millan and other key officials went to Surabaya,
Indonesia for the first steel-cutting ceremony to signal the start of
construction of the vessels.
The joined Indroyono Susilo, Coordinating Minister for Maritime, the
Chief of Naval Staff of Indonesian Navy, the Ambassador of Indonesia for
the Philippines along with the Board of Commissioners, and Board of
Directors of Persero.
