Philippine Navy new 124-meter Landing Platform Dock

The Philippine Navy's new 124-meter Landing Platform Dock is a class of two ships being constructed by PT PAL Indonesia for the navy's Landing Dock Acquisition Project. The class is an improvement on the previously commissioned Tarlac-class which was also constructed by PT PAL. The ships are being acquired as part of Horizon 2 of the Revised AFP Modernization Program, which was set to cover the period of 2018 to 2022.

The ship class has yet to be named. The steel cutting ceremony of the first ship was conducted on 10 August 2023.

Development

Concept Design

The Philippine Navy included plans to procure 2 new landing platform docks as part of its Horizon 2 modernization phase, with the proposal with a budget of PHP5.56 billion among those approved in-principle by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in June 2018. This would allow the Philippine Navy to increase its sealift and amphibious assault capabilities to reach its planned overall capability.

The Philippines' Department of National Defense (DND) signed a contract with Indonesian shipbuilder PT PAL Indonesia on 24 June 2022, with the shipbuilder delivering a variant of their improved 123-meter Strategic Sealift Vessel / Tarlac-class design.

According to the technical specifications released as part of the project's tender documents, the ship will have improvements over the current Tarlac-class landing platform docks, despite both classes originating from a similar base design. The improvements were formulated based on the Philippine Navy's experience in operating the Tarlac-class, and knowing its strengths and shortcomings.

Armaments

The Philippine Navy released information to tenderers that the ships are to be built with allowance for a 76-millimeter (3.0 in) Oto Melara 76mm Super Rapid main gun, two 30mm Aselsan SMASH secondary guns, either the Rheinmetall Oerlikon Millennium Gun or the Aselsan GOKDENIZ gun-based close-in weapon systems, and 8 manually-operated 12.7mm heavy machine guns.

PT PAL confirmed in released proposals that their submitted landing docks design allows for a 76-millimeter (3.0 in) (3 in) main gun on the foredeck, two stern-facing 30 mm (1.2 in) secondary guns will also be fitted, one each on the port and starboard sides. The weapons systems are supposed to be installed separately by the Philippine Navy after delivery.

Flight support

Originally, the ships were designed to accommodate two medium-sized (10-ton) helicopters on the flight deck, and one similar-sized helicopter on the hangar, with the specifications emphasizing the US-made Sikorsky Black Hawk and Italian-made AgustaWestland AW139 helicopter as basis. But changes in the Philippine Navy's requirement later on changed the design to have a hangar for one medium (10-ton) helicopter and a flight deck for two medium (10-ton) helicopters.

Construction

The first landing platform dock has officially started its construction on 10 August 2023 where a first steel cutting ceremony was held in PT PAL's facility in Surabaya, Indonesia while the second landing platform dock has officially started its construction on 22 January 2024. It is expected that the ship would be completed by 2024, and delivered to the Philippine Navy by 2025.

Ships of class

See also

• Tarlac-class landing platform dock
• List of equipment of the Philippine Navy

References