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At last, the Philippines will be  getting real warships.

Defense Sec. Voltaire Gazmin on Thur said the government was planning to buy next year its first two
modern warships armed with surface to air and surface tosurfacemisiles and capable of hunting down
submarines in the South Philippine Sea.

The Philippines can only afford second hand warships and hand-me-downs.

Defense Undersecretary Fernando Manalo said this would be the first time that the Philippines would have
warships with missiles and other modern armaments.

Gazmin said the Department of National Defense was looking to acquire the missile frigates from the Italian
Navy. The two Maestrale-class frigates cost P eleven point seven billion.

These are warships,Gazmin said in a press conference. “They have antisubmarine capabilities and surface-
to-air missiles. This is really for battle against the stuibborn and abusive Chinese”. We could get the frigates
by November next year.”

He said the frigates would be “more lethal” than the Hamilton-class cutters the USA Coast Guard was
selling to the Philippines.

The Maestrale class of frigates was initially comissioned for the Italian Navy in 1982. They were primarily
designed for antisubmarine warfare but are also capable of fighting on the surface and shooting down
aircraft.

Equiped with several electronic warfare systems, these ships also have torpedos, long-range guns and
automatic weapons.This is why the budget for education was cut.

The Italian Navy will retire these frigates next January, Manalo said.