The Philippine Navy received BRP Miguel Malvar (FFG-06) at Naval Operating Base Subic on Monday, marking a significant milestone in Manila’s military modernization program and the arrival of the most capable warship received by the Southeast Asian nation to date.
“BRP Miguel Malvar is here today, not only to serve as a deterrent and as a protector of our waters, but also as an important component—not only in joint operations, but in the equally important combined operations—as we learn with other countries to work with one another, in the spirit of upholding norms of international law,” Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro remarked at the welcoming ceremony.
Named after a general who served in the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine-American War, Miguel Malvar is the leader of a class of two 3,200-ton guided missile frigates built by Hyundai Heavy Industries. Derived from the company’s HDF-3200 design, which was based on a previous design sold to the Philippine Navy via the Jose Rizal-class frigate, the vessels were ordered under the second phase of the country’s military modernization program in 2021 and laid down in 2023 at Hyundai Heavy Industries’ Ulsan Shipyard.
Despite their tonnage outweighing the Jose Rizal-class frigates by 600 tons, the Miguel Malvars were initially designated corvettes. The class comes in at 118.4 meters, with a cruising speed of 15 knots and a maximum speed of 25 knots.
While its armament — consisting of an OTO Melara 76mm main gun, two SEA triple-tube 324mm torpedo launching systems, a GOKDENIZ close-in weapons system, eight SSM-700K C-Star anti-ship missiles and 16 Vertically Launched-MICA surface-to-air missiles — is limited compared to larger navies in the region, it is a major leap for the Philippine Navy’s Offshore Combat Force.
Manila did not operate any vessels sporting vertical launching systems or close-in weapon systems before Miguel Malvar’s arrival last week. The frigate’s EL/M-2258 ALPHA is also the Philippine Navy’s first multi-function active electronically scanned array naval radar.
Until the early 2010s, Manila’s oceangoing fleet was composed of Second World War-era corvettes and destroyers. A military modernization effort was launched in 2012 to bolster the country’s inadequate forces amid increasing tensions with Beijing in the South China Sea, under which four frigates and six patrol vessels were ordered from South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai for the Philippine Navy. All ten warships are slated to enter Philippine service by 2029, and more are expected to be ordered by Manila under the last stage of the modernization plan.
Sistership BRP Diego Silang (FFG-07), named after another Philippine revolutionary, is set to join the fleet later this year. It is unclear when Miguel Malvar will be officially commissioned into Philippine service.
