The Philippines has ordered two new warships from South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Tuesday, modernizing Manila’s navy as it faces a dispute with Beijing in the South China Sea.
The world’s largest shipbuilder also published a press release regarding the deal on Tuesday.
The Philippine Navy had become run down in recent decades – even featuring U.S. craft from World War II – until President Rodrigo Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno Aquino, began a modest modernization program in 2010.
Tuesday’s 28 billion pesos ($556 million) deal with the South Korean shipbuilding giant sees the delivery of the corvettes by 2026.
