MANILA — With four of the Philippine Navy's multi-purpose assault craft (MPAC) seeing action for the first time and giving a good account of themselves on the ongoing stand-off in Zamboanga City, the PN announced that plans to acquire three more of these excellent vessels are still on going.
The Navy currently has six of these high-speed craft in it inventory.
Four of the 28 PN vessels conducting blockade operations off the Zamboanga City coast are MPACs.
"(Acquisition of three MPACs) is part of the PN's medium term capability upgrade program. Three MPACs (are scheduled) to be acquire within 2013 to 2017," PN spokesperson Lt. Cmdr. Gregory Fabic said.
A PN source earlier said that these MPACs are already in Stage 1 of the acquisition process.
Fabic said that the MPACs, as proven in the ongoing Zamboanga City operations, are ideal craft for coastal patrol and defense work due to high speed and maneuverability.
Three of the MPACs are sourced from Taiwan while the remaining three were ordered from Filipino shipbuilder Propmech Corporation, which is based in Subic Bay, Zambales.
These ships are 16.5 meters long, 4.76 meters wide and has a draft of one meter and a top speed of 45 knots.
Each one is worth around P90 million.
It has a range 300 nautical miles.
The hull is made of high-quality aluminum and is crewed by one officer and four enlisted personnel.
It is capable of carrying 16 fully-equipped troopers or two tons of cargo.
The MPAC is capable of operating in territorial waters up to "Sea State 3" (slight waves) without any system degradation.
It is armed with one .50 caliber and two 7.62mm machine guns
(ZamboTimes)
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