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HD HHI holds launching ceremony for Philippine Navy patrol vessel

Published: 27 Mar. 2025, 16:47 Updated: 27 Mar. 2025, 17:23

LEE JAE-LIM
[email protected]

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries held a launching ceremony of a patrol vessel, Diego Silang, at its Ulsan shipyard on March 27. [HD HYUNDAI]

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) held a launching ceremony on Thursday at its Ulsan shipyard for a newly-built 3,200-ton patrol vessel for the Philippine Navy.

The vessel is named after Diego Silang, a Filipino independence movement activist, and will be delivered to the Navy in September after sea trials and final outfitting. It measures 118.4 meters (388 feet) in length and 14.9 meters in width. It has a cruising speed of 15 knots (17 miles per hour) and a range of 4,500 nautical miles.

It is the second patrol vessel to be ordered by the Navy after the Miguel Malvar, which launched in June last year and will be delivered on March 31, five months ahead of the schedule.

“We are very pleased to successfully launch the Diego Silang following the first patrol vessel,” said HD HHI CEO Lee Sang-kyun. “Based on the strengthened cooperation between our two countries, we will continue to actively support the success of the Philippine military’s modernization efforts.”

Ceremony attendees from the Philippines included Lt. Gen. Salvador Melchor B. Mison, Jr., the vice chief of staff of the armed forces of the Philippines; Gen. Romeo S. Brawner, the chief of staff of the armed forces of the Philippines; Jose Ma. Ambrosio Ezpeleta, chief of the Philippine Navy; and Philippine Ambassador to Korea Maria Theresa B. Dizon-De Vega.

Officials from the company and Korean government included the HD HHI CEO as well as Cho Hyun-ki, the Ministry of National Defense’s resource management director, Lee Sang-woo, the head of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration’s Korean submarine project division, and Rear Adm. Ahn Sang-min, commander of the Korean Navy’s Naval Logistics Command.

The Philippine government ordered a total of 10 vessels from HD HHI as part of its naval modernization initiative — two frigates, two patrol vessels and six offshore patrol vessels.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [[email protected]]