Philippines' newest warship Ramon Alcaraz test-fires successful in Florida

The Philippines’ newest warship successfully test-fired its main weapons system off the Florida coast on Tuesday, proving its reliability, according to the Philippine Embassy in the United States.

The BRP Ramon Alcaraz, a Hamilton-class cutter that had been used as patrol vessel by the US Coast Guard, tested its rapid-fire gun in the Atlantic Ocean off Mayport, Florida, on Tuesday afternoon, the embassy said.

PF-16 BRP Ramon Alcaraz (photo : philippineembassyusa)
PF-16 BRP Ramon Alcaraz test-fire in Florida (photo : philippineembassyusa)

In a report to the embassy, Capt. Ernesto Baldovino, the ship’s commanding officer, said the Italian-made Oto Melara gun hit floating targets and did not misfire during the test.

“We have successfully test-fired our Oto Melara gun with a high degree of accuracy. This weapons system is very reliable,” Baldovino said.

During the test, the Alcaraz fired 15 rounds—three to calibrate the gun and 12 at floating targets from a distance of 4 to 5 kilometers.

Satisfied

The test was conducted about three hours after the Alcaraz departed from Mayport, where it had docked to load ammunition, the embassy said.

“Captain Baldovino was more than satisfied with how the Oto Melara performed,” Capt. Elson Aguilar, the embassy’s defense and naval attaché, said in a statement.

The Alcaraz, a 115-meter decommissioned US Coast Guard vessel that the Philippines acquired last year, is on its way to Manila with $15.5 million (P620 million) worth of refitting and refurbishment and sea trials.

The vessel left port at Charleston, South Carolina, on Monday on its voyage to the Philippines. It will make port calls in Panama, San Diego, Honolulu and Guam, and is expected to arrive in the Philippines in the first week of August.

Formerly named Dallas, the cutter served with the US Coast Guard for 40 years.

The United States turned over the cutter to the Philippines last year under its Excess Defense Article Military Assistance Program.

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Comments


  1. Our enemy in the West Philippine Sea is not the People's Liberation Army Navy or PLAN. It's the five different Chinese civil maritime agencies that patrol this area.

    Each of these agencies operate separately from the others. These five are ridiculed by the Chinese as “five dragons contending for the sea.”

    These civil maritime agencies are the China Marine Surveillance, the Border Control Department, the Fisheries Law Enforcement Command, the General Administration of Customs and the Maritime Safety Administration. Their ships are classified as non-military vessels.

    The hulls of the ships belonging to these civil maritime agencies are colored white. The hulls of PLAN ships are colored grey.

    Notice that the ships we face in the West Philippine Sea have white colored hulls, meaning that they belong to these civil maritime agencies.

    Media reports say the China Marine Surveillance is our most active enemy since it's responsible for enforcing law and order within China’s territorial waters and exclusive economic zones. Many of its ships are unarmed.

    China has not sent the PLAN into the West Philippine Sea because doing so will give the Philippines the right to invoke the Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States. The Chinese don't want us to do that so they use the ships of the five civil maritime agencies to harrass us.

    Our enemy are these five civil maritime agencies. Many of the Chinese ships are lightly armed and none carry anti-ship missiles. They are easy prey for the BRP Gregorio del Pilar and the BRP Ramon Alcaraz.

    Our warships have a good chance against the ships of the five Chinese civil maritime agencies--if a naval action occurs.

    China, however, recognizes the danger of having five separate government agencies acting independently of Beijing. Any one of these agencies could embroil China in a war without the approval of the central government in Beijing.

    China is now centralizing bureaucratic control over its maritime law enforcement agencies by consolidating all five of them under the State Oceanic Administration.

    ReplyDelete

  2. Our enemy in the West Philippine Sea is not the People's Liberation Army Navy or PLAN. It's the five different Chinese civil maritime agencies that patrol this area.

    Each of these agencies operate separately from the others. These five are ridiculed by the Chinese as “five dragons contending for the sea.”

    These civil maritime agencies are the China Marine Surveillance, the Border Control Department, the Fisheries Law Enforcement Command, the General Administration of Customs and the Maritime Safety Administration. Their ships are classified as non-military vessels.

    The hulls of the ships belonging to these civil maritime agencies are colored white. The hulls of PLAN ships are colored grey.

    Notice that the ships we face in the West Philippine Sea have white colored hulls, meaning that they belong to these civil maritime agencies.

    Media reports say the China Marine Surveillance is our most active enemy since it's responsible for enforcing law and order within China’s territorial waters and exclusive economic zones. Many of its ships are unarmed.

    China has not sent the PLAN into the West Philippine Sea because doing so will give the Philippines the right to invoke the Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States. The Chinese don't want us to do that so they use the ships of the five civil maritime agencies to harrass us.

    Our enemy are these five civil maritime agencies. Many of the Chinese ships are lightly armed and none carry anti-ship missiles. They are easy prey for the BRP Gregorio del Pilar and the BRP Ramon Alcaraz.

    Our warships have a good chance against the ships of the five Chinese civil maritime agencies--if a naval action occurs.

    China, however, recognizes the danger of having five separate government agencies acting independently of Beijing. Any one of these agencies could embroil China in a war without the approval of the central government in Beijing.

    China is now centralizing bureaucratic control over its maritime law enforcement agencies by consolidating all five of them under the State Oceanic Administration.

    ReplyDelete

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