MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines will ask the United States for
excess military hardware in the “2 plus 2″ meeting in Washington DC next
week, an defense official said Friday.
“We will ask from the US some excess defense articles and the systems
that were removed from the Hamilton class that arrived earlier,”
Defense Undersecretary Honorio Escueta told reporters in an ambush
interview after the closing ceremonies of the Balikatan exercises.
Escueta was referring to the BRP Gregorio del Pilar, the Navy’s first
Hamilton class vessel acquired last year through the Excess Defense
Articles program.
Among what the equipment taken off from BRP del Pilar when it was
turned over to the Philippine Navy were sensors, communications and
electronic equipment and close-in weapon systems.
Manila would also ask for long range patrol aircrafts and radar systems, Escueta said.
A second Hamilton ship from the US Coast Guard will arrive in the country within the year.
Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Foreign Affairs Secretary
Albert del Rosario will meet with their US counterparts, Defense
Secretary Leon Panetta and State Secretary Hilary Clinton, next week to
discuss “defense, security, political and economic concerns.”
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Frances Mangosing | INQUIRER.net | April 27, 2012 | Article Link
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