China's claimed territorial waters run close to Luzon and right up to southern Palawan. This makes Palawan of major importance for Philippine naval reconnaissance resources.
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In Submarine Matter's article Philippines Increasingly Interested in Submarines of June 9, 2015, my suggestion was an update of South Korea's Dolgorae class mini submarines (above). At 175 tons, with two torpedo tubes, crew of 14, Dolgoraes are affordable. Upfront purchase price, basing, maintenance and crewing all make sense given the Philippines budget. South Korea itself produced its Dolgorae's in the 1980s-90s to accustom its Navy to submarine operations.
Recommendation of an update to the Dolgorae is also in the context of higher priotities for the Philippine Navy which mitigate against heavily investing in submarines. Such priorities for the Navy and Coastguard include:
- handling natural disasters mainly in the form of regular typhoons (like Koppu right now) that cause destruction, starvation and disease. Naval resources are particularly necessary given the Philippines 7,000 isolated islands and many parts of the larger islands that have limited road access. Landing craft that can bring supplies to shattered coastal communities are in demand. The landing craft supplied to the Philippines include Australian Balikpapan class (up to 520 tons) and 2 US supplied Bacolod City class landing ships (4,265 tons maximum).
- another major non-state challenge is secessionist Islamic and other movements on islands which may require the landing of infantry and equipment to counter these movements. Again landing craft/ships are useful. Also the two Makassar class landing platform docks with landing craft and helicopters can counter threats.
The Youtube features landing craft and especially landing platform docks. New corvettes and frigates may please some but are probably unaffordable given wider demands on limited budgets.
- a third challenge is fishing and South China Sea islands disputes with China, Taiwan and other Southeast Asian countries. The landing ships and landing platform docks come in handy for projecting power, show the flag and resupply Philippine island garrisons. Coastguard cutters and similar size naval ships are also useful.
- Philippine warships fighting against Chinese ships would be counter-productive. The Philippines supporting US and Japanese ships with information and port access might be more useful.
It is only to China's advantage that some Southeast Asian countries are involved in some island disputes among themselves in the South China Sea. Unity in the face of the common Chinese challenge would be better. Unity would also encourage US, Australian and Japanese solidarity against China.
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Pete