Philippine president hints at plan to build a submarine fleet

Editor’s Note: This piece by Seth Robson features quotes from CSP Senior Fellow, Grant Newsham.

The Philippines is developing a plan to acquire submarines, the country’s president said Friday after the navy’s 125th anniversary celebration in Manila.

Multiple countries have offered to furnish the Philippine navy with submarines or to build them at Philippine shipyards, said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who did not identify those countries, according to his communications office.

“If they are built here and we can actually build submarines here and provide those submarines to other countries then that’s another source of jobs, and of income and increased capability for our Navy,” he said in a press release.

…

Philippine subs would prove worrisome to the Chinese, said Grant Newsham, a senior researcher with the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies in Tokyo.

“Ask yourself, would [China] want the Philippine Navy to operate submarines? No. That tells you it’s a good thing to do,” he told Stars and Stripes in a May 23 email.

In addition, the U.S. Navy should resume its presence at Subic as a submarine “access point,” Newsham said.

“You can never have too much access,” he said.

Australian and Japanese submarines might also call there in the near future, he said.

The proximity of Subic Bay to the South China Sea is a military advantage, although submarines don’t need to be based close to their patrol area, Newsham added.

“Maybe the biggest advantage is political – demonstrating that the region’s free nations are willing to fight to defend themselves and their interests,” he said.

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