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| BRP Gregorio del Pilar |
ZAFF SOLMERIN
VICE Adm. Alexander Pama, Navy flag officer in command, on Sunday said the government has allotted funds to buy the weapons to rearm the second Hamilton-class cutter that was sold by the United States government without its weapons system.
Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, during their recent visit to Washington, requested the US government to retain the weapons system of the second cutter including the restoration of the same weapons that were removed from the first cutter, but to no avail.
The stripped weapons include missiles, search radar and close-in weapon system (CIWS), among others. What the Americans left only in the ship was a 76mm gun.
This led Gazmin to announce that the government is exploring defense articles from other countries, including the idea of buying new jet fighters instead of buying secondhand F-16s from the US.
Read the full story at BusinessMirror