The PLA Navy was during the Cold War a brown water navy. But during the 1990s the Chinese navy had a massive refleeting partly in response to the Taiwanese trysting with the idea of a permanent split from the Motherland. During the same time, the Philippine Navy’s assets were barely improved. The modernisation of the AFP was supposed to have been partially funded by the sale of baselands (Hell, FVR, where did he money go?) The only “new” naval assets obtained during the Tabako presidency are three corvettes HMS Peacock class, personally delivered by the Prince of Wales on his farewell trip from Hong Kong after 1997 turnover to China. In exchange, we gifted the Prince with a Tarsier! The corvettes were refurbished and their ship to ship missile capability wasn’t part of the deal. (Perhaps we should have given Prince Charles another tarsier!)
The Peacock class corvettes are the most modern in the assets of the PN. The Americans sold us 2 LSVs of Frank Besson class early in the Ramos presidency. Together with the British corvettes, these ships are the most modern in the fleet. The rest of the fleet can be used as props in a 21st century Hollywood remake of the Battle of Midway movie!
(And we haven’t even touched on the assets of the PAF, which is sardonically referred to in the service as PAFfffffffffffffffft!)
Now we read that China has sent ships to its eponymous southern sea. The Chinese embassy says that it was a patrol boat.Naturally defence advisors of our Glorious Queen are alarmed. But I really doubt it if our own Sir Walter Raleigh’s in the DND were reading the papers. China and India last year demonstrated their blue water might by chasing pirates in the middle of the Indian Ocean blue. While India has power to project its military assets with an aircraft carrier, China still has none yet. This could be the consuelo de bobo to Gloriana.
I wonder what our Raleighs are doing? Were they playing bowls upon sighting the Red Armada on the horizon? I hope that they had the decency to finish the game! But one thing is sure, that ain’t no patrol boat. It is likely a destroyer of Russian type or a frigate. Only ships like these can make the Americans take notice. Last week some Chinese vessels reportedly harassed a US Navy ship in international waters.
But then what should Our Glorious Queen do? Will she rally the troops to our own Tilbury and say
“I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a President, and of a Hillary Clinton too, and think foul scorn that Canton or Beijing, or any twitty Emperor should dare to invade the borders of my realm!”
(My sincerest apologies to Elizabeth I, the Real Gloriana!)
Well if she does, then that’s one better than her predecessor, Tabako, who could only belt out a tune with Emperor Jiang!
Well Gloria has had her much awaited phone call from the Imperial Capital in DC. The seriousness of the situation cannot be dismissed even if diplomats and ministers on both sides downplay the whole thing. The Smith rape case and VFA aren’t something that should immediately concern the Imperial President Barack Obama. The Chinese pleasure cruise near our waters has major geopolitical consequences. In fact this was hinted in a 1990s James Bond movie. The Province of Taiwan has its own navy and that navy has more modern destroyers and missile capability than the Red one in Beijing. The Taiwanese also have blue water capability and if they were internationally recognised as a “real” country, they should be sinking those Somali a_holes on the Indian Ocean!
If China sinks our WWII Auk class boats, expect the Taiwanese to come in. And if Taiwan comes in, expect the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force to come in.
This is something that Barack Obama doesn’t need, a naval headache!
The tragedy is our defence establishment doesn’t have the assets to defend the nation. Now that we clearly expressed our Sovereign Will as a Republic by defining our territory (before the Damned British and Americans defined it by treaty), we can’t enforce it.
(As expected the Partylisters of the Party in Congress said it was a sellout. Talk about double standard nationalism!)
The Commonwealth on Dec 7, 1941 has only one wee bit better than our Glorious Republic. Manuel Quezon still had Mother America (even if she didn’t send reinforcements and thus we mark Bataan Day). Now Gloria has no Mother. And I don’t think Barack wants to be one!
What we need is some sort of Winston! Not the smokes but the Churchill!
Popularity: 1% [?]
You’re absolutely right, blackshama.
You’re at this from a war-time scenario already.?
But this saber-rattling chess game is still in its opening moves and already GMA has called an emergency meeting of her Cabinet security cluster while her allies in Congress are lining upo behind her Baselines Law Queens Gambit with Beijing has accepted.
I have to wonder weather the bishops will protect GMA or censure her for being reckless, with the realm not having enough protective rooks and knights.
Can she win the game with just her political pawns?
Will she ‘call a friend’ and will her new phone pal oblige?
http://midfield.wordpress.com/2009/03/06/obama-prodded-on-rp-us-dispute-over-spratlys/
Gloria as a Napoleon Bonaparte!?! I concede that there are similarities! :-)
this bruhaha is a very good pogi-points for the sitting govt officials and politicians…hahahaha yeah lets show everyone we love our country…yeah we are willing to defend our soveriegnty..yeah we will fight china…WHAT THE FUCK???????????????? EH PINAPATAY NA NGA NILA ANG MAMAYANG PILIPINO..MATAGAL NA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks to China, we’ve probably seen an end to all that crazy talk of abrogating treaties with America. But not at FV or Gabriela or Utrecht…
in “the red mansion,” there’s a great quote from a chinese fellow the british journalist author of the book interviewed. the mistake of china, the man said, was that it confused paper with power. it bought lots of american debt, thinking it thus owned america. but the paper, said the man, didn’t buy what america has and china lacks: frigates, aircraft carriers. the recent broadside by the chinese president, to the effect that they were feeling a ramosian “waning waning” vis a vis american bonds, was, i suppose, an attempt to rattle their paper sabers. followed up with some old-fashioned saber-rattling on the high seas. add to that the saber-rattling of north korea, still a chinese ally and jitters in seoul as a result.
in which case obama’s decision to have the japanese premier be the first foreign guest -ahead of the bungled visit of the british premier- shows a renewed desire to fortify its front lines in the far east. so where does the rp come into, in all this?
RP should offer the US bases in the Spratleys, Mindanao and Batanes (as close to Taiwan as possible). We could use the extra mutual defense, as well as real help in counter-terrorism, not to speak of hundreds of thousands of jobs. We must answer the crucial question Mao Tsetung once raised: “Who are our friends, who are our enemies?”
NDF/CPP/NPA wouldnt like that haha
para sa akin..since ang NPA ay matagal ng nakikipagyera..bakit hindi na lang sila gawing legal at sila yung ilagay na poprotekta sa spratly or sa batanes..anyway kulang naman talaga tayo sa militar…pero ewan ko kung payag sila dito..di ba idol nga nila ang china hahaha
Ooops that’s right. Glad you reminded me Juwan-D. We also need counter-insurgency measures against the extortionists blowing up cell sites that are so crucial to the well being of the Filipino people, terrorizing farmers, killing their own members who want to quit or avail of amnesty then blaming it on military agents, and using internationally banned land mines. Maybe the Americans ought to drop a JDAM on Utrecht.
exactly…legalize the NPA and all these extortionists and blowing up cell sites as well as harassing the farmers will automatically be gone…well not really…but at least ang militar na lang ang pwedeng pagbintangan at wala ng pasahan at turuan :)
It takes money to buy additional vessels for Pinas navy. This usually translates into — higher VAT, higher income-taxes or taxes previously-not-collected (e.g. from OFW’s).
Or Pinas barters — 100-year leases for 3 to 5 bases for US armed forces in exchange for 4,000 kilometers of 6-inch-thick concrete highways, 15,000 elementary & high-school buildings (5-rooms or more each), 12,000 9-mm handguns so that every Pinas policeman carries a weapon, and $2-million a year to UP-Diliman (first-year project is a fence around the campus).
Oh, yeah, plus a dozen patrol boats and a dozen COin-aircraft to use in Mindanao; and USA to provide salaries for 50 doctors, 250 nurses for medical-care clinics in needy rural-areas of the Philippines (Pinas to provide buildings and all needed supplies).
The pretty, but clueless, deputy spokesperson should not speculate on things she does not fully understand. The mouthpiece in international relations is the DFA.
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20090316-194455/Manila-may-seek-US-ASEAN-support-on-Spratlys
We know we’re no match for a big enemy, but do we really have to state it. Have we lost self-respect altogether.
You dont defend your country with antiquated
ships…
UP n grad,
No need to buy. AMARC in Tucson, AZ still has several hundred F-15A/B and F/A-18 A/B/C/D in storage. I don’t think the US would mind if the Philippines borrows several of them for ‘storage’ in the Philippines.
BTW the navy from down under will also come in. The RAN won’t like Chinese ships too far south!
Supremo,
yes, we probably can borrow some of those fighter planes..but what about the fuel? or whatever is need to fly those planes?
siguradong magkandarapa na naman ang mga politiko at general sa panibagong source ng pangungurakot nila hehehe
instead na makakalipad ang eroplano ng isang oras…20mins na lang..kasi yung gagastusin dapat para sa 40mins..naibulsa na bwihihihi
Juwan_D,
I have a former classmate at PAF procurement. He said the PAF has the money to buy a squadron of Saab Gripen. The PAF can’t buy them because some politicians ‘prefer’ other jets.
Supremo,
very typical to our AFP…foot soldiers in comabt are wearing crappy boots or no boots at all only because the politicians and generals have their preferred contractors and dont consider the quality of the boots they are buying….
I remember a friend in the PNP once told me…he was still assigned in a municipal level police office..he said..if crame HQ will send a 1 sack of rice to the municipal level police office..the regional police office will get a portion of the rice..then the provincial offc wil take another portion..and so on and so forth..hangang sa pagdating dun sa dapat pinadalhan..sako na lang, wala ng bigas…so ngayon tatawag naman ang crame HQ dun sa pinadalhan at tatanungin ngayon kung natangap pa yung 1 sakong bigas..sympre sasabihin nila natangap nila…so sasabihin ngayon ng crame HQ, ok ibalik nyo yang sako dito pero lagyan nyo ng isda o kung ano man ang meron kayo jan sa munisipyo nyo para matikman naman sa HQ..so padala naman ang pobreng mga pulis sa munisipyo hehehehehehe
Yes, our Baselines Law has upped the ante in the South China Sea, but not by much. Besides, we had to establish national legislation defining our territory to some extent. All the regional capitals are fully aware of this. So their protests are de cajon and equally to be expected.
Whether we ever get around to building a real navy, that’s another thing. In the meanwhile, we should be ready for some jawfests in various venues, where the lawyers and diplomats will take the lead. We have plenty of those, so don’t worry too much.
No country, not even China, will want a shooting war anyway. Too many economies tanking. Too many unpredicatables. Other priorities that need attending to first.
Here’s one take on the meaning of PRC-US rivalry in the SCS:
“However vigorously the Pentagon planners may deny it, the principle object of the anti-missile shield is the long-term military power of China. A crucial element of it will be missiles launched from naval ships that will knock out enemy ballistic missiles during flight. In the event of an attack from anywhere in southern China, the naval element of missile defence would be in the South China Sea.”
From:
Half the wo
I visited the Indian Navy warship New Delhi when she made a call to Manila more than ten years ago. Impressive, no there were no dancing sailors doing risky neck movements in that silly Indian dance move.
India needs these warships like they must have curry and call centers.
I stepped aboard the Qing Dao more than a decade ago. Some sailors traded coins with me, they were kind simple Chinese young adults wearing the PLAN uniform. They were proud of their ship and their Navy.
South China Sea is why they need these warships, they manufacture their own.
When the Royal Navy came, it was the first time I saw the HMS Hermes and HMS Intrepid. I would not mind sailing to war in these “luxury warships”.
England is an island. They became an empire with the Royal Navy sailing all across the globe. The last time they fought on their own was during the Falklands war in the early eighties.
Then I had a chance to visit old classmates aboard BRP Quezon and BRP Cebu. (Ngiting aso)
What these two warships can do, is a lot of devastation and a can of whoop ass to any enemy fleet… if this was the year 1521 and Magellan’s fleet was invading. Sadly, today is 2009 and the fleet out there is not the one Adm. Jung Hei once commanded.
The PN warships mentioned were just two of some that are operational veterans of the last world war.
Commodore Angue knows how to use these tough old ships in today’s territorial disputes and I thoroughly approve of his aggressive naval tactics. He is a sea dog, not a (pa)sea cat like a lot of ocifers at HPN.
The Peacock minesweepers can be taken out by a single C802. Any if not all of those vessels can and will be brushed aside by the PLAN like some nuissance candidate. Its like a puppy versus a fire engine.
What now?
A Navy will always remain relevant for any Archipelagic state such as the Philippines. The PN is there no matter its state, its not as if the sailors like what they see or what pier they are bobbing and spitting on, or that they have grown accustomed to just collecting their paychecks, going home to the wife and screwing her, they do want a Navy at par with other nations. The Navy is a highly technical service, very expensive to purchase a modern fleet and operate it.
Sir Toto is doing what he can. Not easy being in his shoes, his son will still be serving by the time he retires. The game is posturing, so he has to play it, with what he can.
Don’t worry, dyan naman si Daniel Smith, tsaka damni kidnapper sa pinas. Array ko.
Is there a National Defense Plan?
Why what kind of AFP do you want?
Then choose your weapon. If you order now, delivery begins 3 years later, by that time some sensors are obsolete, or worse.. overcome by events.
Yung kwitis na sa Toys Section, punta ka.
Those new ship launched missiles are not the type any CIWS can kill easily, it cork screws towards its target ship and blast it dead in the water.
There are no CIWS or any such defensive systems on board any PN vessel. A C802 costs less than the collector items the PN is sailing out there, more disconcerting is the loss of lives when it hits the hull, the sea does the rest.
Enough about the Navy. Lets fly with the Air Force.
THE AIR DEFENSE COMMAND
There was a time that when Wallace Air Station screams, the boys of Basa AB are scrambled aloft in less than few minutes. In less than half an hour intercepting a radar target off the coat of Lingayen for example. It was a glorios time to be in the Air Force as a jet fighter pilot. Tsk! I like the sound of that. Jet Jock, kick in the seat of the pants, wearing speed jeans, until the missile age. The PAF never had such weapons to fire from its F-5A freedom fighters. Notice the wingtip has fuel tanks instead of launching racks for AIM-9 sidewinders. But the Phantom pilots at Clark AB and or a USM VFA or Marine VMFA flying the old Rhinos would visit and discover why their PAF counterparts are exceptional pilots, they make gun kills. 5th FW 6th TFS pilots never lost the art of balls to the wall ACM. If they had missiles, they can shoot down a MIG while yawning in boredom.
Today, its scrambled eggs on a frying pan. We have no AEWS, no interecptors, its all about moving people and supplies now.
220th HEAVY AIRLIFT WING
221st AS(C-130′s)
222nd AS(F-27′s) and
223rd AS(N22B’s)
Fleet has sveral C-130′s but can affors to operate 1 only during peace time, in war time maybe more than 1, but PAL is a RASG unit of the PAF Reserves, so our solidiers can fly into combat in luxury and style. Unlike the C-130, a big ass airplane meant for the military and not for comfort, it has no comfort room, All PAL airliners have lavatories. Soldiers can masturbate before dying, the C-130 can carry their remains back no need of lavatoreis by that time. The PAF Airlift Wing provides the military with exclusive cargo and transportation assets, something the PSG would like to keep the civilians unaware perhaps, like large amounts of ammunition or explosives cannot be sent through PAL Cargo commercial flights, its against CAA regs. Tanks, APC’s, Artillery pieces cannot fit inside a PAL plane. The Herculese can gape wide with its rear ramp. N22B Nomads are light tactical transports capable of Short Field Operations. Usually used for utility transport duties. The Fokker F-27 is used for transporting military personnel or Troop Pax.
Oh there are other support squadrons composed of technicians, mechanics and admin units to run them all. You see.. life is not that simple.
205th TOW
206th, 207th, 208th, 209th, 210th Tactical Helicopter Sqns. all operating Huey’s. The last a training outfit.
The UH-1H maybe old, but is still in service even with the US Army today. 95% of all the worlds communists have heard its distinctive thud by its heavy blades in the air, when it flies in anger. It is a welcome sound during typhoon relief, SAR, and Cas Evac missions. They can smell like death when fluids from dead soldiers leak into the floor panels, and dried up under the sun for a whole day, it can also bring death from above like no other, when Army Rangers would fast rope into the jungle floor during combat insertions. It did not matter if you hid in a bunker those Rangers are going to dig you out, or smoke you. No JDAM can do what boots on the ground can.
505th SAR Sqn
Angels. They fly a fast S-76 to get to you and bring you to a hospital quick, or they can hoist you from an angry sea or evacuate you from high elevation such as mountains. They fly a more powerful version of the Huey. Make nice to them.
Same here with training squadrons, a maintenance and supply squadron, a HQ Services Squadron, its never easy.
15th STRIKE WING
16th Attack Squadron operates OV-10 Bronco’s and SF260′s The 260 turbo props are actually trainers armed as part of capability enhancement, because the money for modernization of the AFP evaporated.
The OV-10 patrols the contested areas in the Spratleys. I cannot imagine a Bronco shooting down an SU-27 flying out of Woody Island. But they fly those red ass patrols anyway, many hours patrolling empty seas and empty skies. The drone of those two engines can make you drowsy.
But they are there ready to provide CAS to ground Forces.
20th Attack Squadron fly the MG520 gunships. HPAF took the cheaper variant, meaning no fancy targeting systems and senors that costs as much as the helicopter, we are not killing tanks, we are killing NPA, MILF and ASG formations. No need for excess weight just a simple gun sight, more bullets and jet fuel. If the Weather is good, they fly CAS missions, Armed Recon or escorting. You call, they make them full of holes and fill them full of lead. Listen to that sexy female voice, tell her where to shoot those rockets. Yes its a different Air Force now.
The Air Force despite its current state still fulfills its mandate under the motto “Wherever, whenever, however”. Hmm.. Whatever. They do with what little they have. That should not have been the case.
THE PLAAF
Needs no introduction. It is the second largest air force in the world. They have sent senior pilots into space already.
WHAT NOW?
Hmm.. scag muna tayo bok.
It will be like teasing “Qing Cong” (my chinese version of the giant ape). This one don’t like bananas or that kind of republic.
Stand your ground, collide if you want (panabla). The toughest part is, they get to fire at us first or we are the aggressors. “Thats another fine mess-ion you’ve gotten me into Commander.”