In early September the Philippines unveiled one of its most ambitious new naval projects with plans to acquire two new HDF-3000 frigates from Hyundai Heavy Industries of South Korea. Based on the 3,250-ton (full load) Incheon class, also known as the FFX program, the modified Philippine frigates could be smaller than the 374-foot Incheon (pictured here) and her sisters in service with South Korea but will be capable of carrying a full range or antiair, antiship, and antisubmarine weapons and equipment. The Philippine Navy does not currently possess any missile-carrying warships, however, so there is no guarantee the class will be fitted with such advanced weaponry, at least for the time being. If new missiles eventually are acquired, it would set an important precedent, but it also could create additional infrastructure and training challenges for the Philippine armed forces, which are struggling to cope with growing threats in the South China Sea.
This past June South Korea launched the first of its new Daegu-class frigates. The vessel, being built by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering under the FFX-II program, is an expanded version of the aforementioned Incheon-class frigates that began entering service in 2013. Besides housing different propulsion systems, the two warship designs have other notable variances. At 400 feet, the Daegu is 26 feet longer than her predecessor and displaces 3,600 tons, which is 350 tons more than the Incheon class when fully loaded. The newer frigates also likely will be fitted with a South Korean-designed K-VLS 16-cell vertical launch system that can carry domestically produced antiship and surface-to-air missiles (and potentially land-attack cruise missiles). As with the Incheon class, a 5-inch naval gun, Phalanx close-in weapon system, torpedo tubes, and a helicopter also are expected to arm the new warships once they begin entering service in 2018.
On 1 July the Taiwanese guided-missile patrol ship Jin Chiang (also spelled Chin Jiang in some media reports) accidently fired an advanced The Hsiung Feng III (Brave Wind) antiship missile while taking part in exercises near Tsoying. The incident was blamed on human error. The HF III missile is capable of supersonic speeds and has a maximum range of more than 80 miles but flew just over 40 miles northwest before striking a Taiwanese fishing boat operating southeast of Penghu Island. The inadvertent attack launched by the 16-year-old Jing Chiang-class missile boat killed the fishing vessel’s captain and wounded several crew members. Built between 1994 and 2000, this class of warships includes the Jin Chiang and Tze Chiang (pictured here) along with ten sister ships that previously had been armed with the older Hsiung Feng II missile but have been undergoing upgrades to carry the HF III variant of the weapon.