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Philippines Announces $2 Billion Defense Expansion

Numbers without any concrete facts. Oh how all our governments love to play the 'we will improve things' card.
 
Remember the flak China got last year by the media about how little they donated?

This is why China / HK / Taiwan only focused on material support instead of writing the Philippines a huge cheque after Typhoon Haiyan. They know the Philippines officials will just pocket half of it and use the other half to buy weapons even even before the devastated towns have been re-built.

At least the Chinese government has common sense...while my dumb "conservative" government donated more than practically everyone per capita while running a deficit and cutting "high cost" social programs for Canadians. Not to mention all the extra Filipino "temporary" foreign workers they let in while our kids can't get a job to support their now even more expensive education.
 
Remember the flak China got last year by the media about how little they donated?

This is why China / HK / Taiwan only focused on material support instead of writing the Philippines a huge cheque after Typhoon Haiyan. They know the Philippines officials will just pocket half of it and use the other half to buy weapons even even before the devastated towns have been re-built.

At least the Chinese government has common sense...while my dumb "conservative" government donated more than practically everyone per capita while running a deficit and cutting "high cost" social programs for Canadians. Not to mention all the extra Filipino "temporary" foreign workers they let in while our kids can't get a job to support their now even more expensive education.
You're way off topic bud. This is about Philippines defense budget not your beloved China or Canada.
 
A wise decision for the Philippines. :)

indeed. I have always been asking myself why the philippines spends so little on its military compared to even its much smaller neighbours like Vietnam. Anyway, its good to see the country finally taking control/awareness about its military. Though it remains to be seen how this 'increase' will be spent judging by the level of corruption in the country's military/army. So we will have to wait and see i guess. :cheers:
 
In ASEAN, only Philippine and Indonesia is actually have the most lowest rates for defense spending compare to their perspective GDP. If Indonesia spend it money like Singapore today, you can see Indonesian defense budget will hit 24-30 billion US dollar number, comparable with South Korean.
 
indeed. I have always been asking myself why the philippines spends so little on its military compared to even its much smaller neighbours like Vietnam. Anyway, its good to see the country finally taking control/awareness about its military. Though it remains to be seen how this 'increase' will be spent judging by the level of corruption in the country's military/army. So we will have to wait and see i guess. :cheers:

They favor domestic development right now , and one can see this in terms of educational strides in the Philippines. Their country, tho still developing, has a very high literacy rate, there numerous of skilled, educated professionals in the Philippines, so much that the labor market exceeds actual positions available. Give them 10-15 years and you will see great strides. As for military defense, the Philippines is doing so according to her standard, and quite frankly they don't really have any outright enemies. China may be a territorial competitor, but realistically no conflict will arise as there are geostrategic repercussions if such forgone exigency should come to the fore.
 
We should spend money to buy Thermobaric weapons and White Phosphorous weapons

Why thermobaric weapons? Thermobarics are good for bunkers and caves, but in open spaces they lose too much energy and are actually less effective then their high-explosive counterparts. Thermobarics are really, really good for anti-cave duties as they create a vaccum that will suck the air out of the cave and suffocate the occupants. I agree with @Nihonjin1051 - Anti-ship and anti-submarine weapons are the way to go.

In open space high-explosive and fuel-air explosives are great, but thermobarics lose effectiveness.

This article does a great job explaining the effects of thermobaric weapons
Joint Health Command - ignore the link title, the article is called "Aspects of thermobaric weaponry"

Also, @Nihonjin1051 - I've got some updates on ASM systems for the Philippines.

Philippine Navy Air and Missile Defense Radar with Lockheed Martin Agreement 2013-2020 goal | Austronesia Defense Forum

Philippine Navy mulling best way to upgrade Del Pilar frigates - IHS Jane's 360

Nothing major, but the new radars are going to be a big boost. Apart from that discussions are ongoing.
 
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They favor domestic development right now , and one can see this in terms of educational strides in the Philippines. Their country, tho still developing, has a very high literacy rate, there numerous of skilled, educated professionals in the Philippines, so much that the labor market exceeds actual positions available. Give them 10-15 years and you will see great strides. As for military defense, the Philippines is doing so according to her standard, and quite frankly they don't really have any outright enemies. China may be a territorial competitor, but realistically no conflict will arise as there are geostrategic repercussions if such forgone exigency should come to the fore.


the problems lies in their Political system and elitism along with their clan culture, in which has hindering their potential growth for so long. Don't you think Philippine in 60's to 70's decade is the most advanced country in ASEAN and has been dubbed as Asian cub tiger along with Taiwan and South Korean at the times?

Why thermobaric weapons? Thermobarics are good for bunkers and caves, but in open spaces they lose too much energy and are actually less effective then their high-explosive counterparts. Thermobarics are really, really good for anti-cave duties as they create a vaccum that will suck the air out of the cave and suffocate the occupants. I agree with @Nihonjin1051 - Anti-ship and anti-submarine weapons are the way to go.

In open space high-explosive and fuel-air explosives are great, but thermobarics lose effectiveness.

This article does a great job explaining the effects of thermobaric weapons
Joint Health Command

What Philippine armed forces need right now is to replace their obsolete hardware and giving more training their serviceman. I have read a paper written by Ph. Admiral giving assessment about Ph. capability, not only their hardware is severely outdated but their training methods and doctrine is kinda obsolete too. He mention about when Ph. Navy can't find any people in an entire country who can fix the problems in their Oto Melara 76 mm Naval gun back in 2002. And to fix the problems they eventually sent their Naval technician to Oto Melara service center in Australia and just to found if their Technician is inept and not capable to handling the mechanical issue in Oto Melara cannon due to their basic training in Naval Cannon system is based on systems back to WW II and early Vietnam war era.
 
Why thermobaric weapons? Thermobarics are good for bunkers and caves, but in open spaces they lose too much energy and are actually less effective then their high-explosive counterparts. Thermobarics are really, really good for anti-cave duties as they create a vaccum that will suck the air out of the cave and suffocate the occupants. I agree with @Nihonjin1051 - Anti-ship and anti-submarine weapons are the way to go.

In open space high-explosive and fuel-air explosives are great, but thermobarics lose effectiveness.

This article does a great job explaining the effects of thermobaric weapons
Joint Health Command - ignore the link title, the article is called "Aspects of thermobaric weaponry"

The Philippines, as an archipelagic nation state, with already over 100 million and with limited territory, has to take care of its citizenry and this is the main responsibility of the Philippine Government's Mandate to rule. The Government in Malacanang Palace are encouraged more than ever due to their nation's 7.5% GNP growth rate, billions of FDI going into the country from Japan, United States, EU and other relevant partners. Their country's growing IT and BPO global hub will continue to improve the standard of living of thousands upon thousands of its citizenry.

The Philippines , clearly now doing it right, is beginning to pay off its foreign debt and in earnest, have increased their national credit rating. This is catalyst for them to further improve the infrastructure as clearly their government knows that the Philippines has a highly trainable, highly intelligent and hard working civil population. This is the reason why we are seeing growth in many of her cities such as Cebu, Mandaue, Iloilo City, Bacolod, and recently they have been increasing the supply chain capacties in their cities in the south such as Davao City, Cagayan De Oro City, Batuan City, and General Santos City.

Spurred with the recent peace cooperation between the Philippine Government and MILF/ MNLF, Bangsamoro Force,s we are looking at ever-growing peaceful infrastructure growth in Mindanao. I've some friends who collaborate with the Philippines' DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government) Region VII (Cebu - Bohol - Leyte) and they tell me that there are mor and more Japanese investors making their presence known in the southern Mindanao as Japan sees Philippines as its major industrial hub long term. I see the positive effects in this because the presence of Japanese businesses expanding in the Philippines means more job opportunities for the people, which directly relates to reduction in social strains which have been used as catalysts for separatist and communists forces such as the NPA.
This goes back to my earlier point of Philippines' Mandate to secure its citizenry with jobs, resources.

Externally speaking, the Philippines is doing it the right way by evading in overly-diverting its much needed resources for military development. They are developing their armed forces proportionally, and at the same time developing their diplomatic defensive apparatus by forging defense cooperation with nations such as Japan, Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam, India, Malaysia, Singapore. This goes back to Malacanang's premise of sustainable development, which is, in my opinion, a responsible and pragmatic outlook. They are making leaps and strides as we speak. Time will judge them favorably.
 
The Philippines, as an archipelagic nation state, with already over 100 million and with limited territory, has to take care of its citizenry and this is the main responsibility of the Philippine Government's Mandate to rule. The Government in Malacanang Palace are encouraged more than ever due to their nation's 7.5% GNP growth rate, billions of FDI going into the country from Japan, United States, EU and other relevant partners. Their country's growing IT and BPO global hub will continue to improve the standard of living of thousands upon thousands of its citizenry.

The Philippines , clearly now doing it right, is beginning to pay off its foreign debt and in earnest, have increased their national credit rating. This is catalyst for them to further improve the infrastructure as clearly their government knows that the Philippines has a highly trainable, highly intelligent and hard working civil population. This is the reason why we are seeing growth in many of her cities such as Cebu, Mandaue, Iloilo City, Bacolod, and recently they have been increasing the supply chain capacties in their cities in the south such as Davao City, Cagayan De Oro City, Batuan City, and General Santos City.

Spurred with the recent peace cooperation between the Philippine Government and MILF/ MNLF, Bangsamoro Force,s we are looking at ever-growing peaceful infrastructure growth in Mindanao. I've some friends who collaborate with the Philippines' DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government) Region VII (Cebu - Bohol - Leyte) and they tell me that there are mor and more Japanese investors making their presence known in the southern Mindanao as Japan sees Philippines as its major industrial hub long term. I see the positive effects in this because the presence of Japanese businesses expanding in the Philippines means more job opportunities for the people, which directly relates to reduction in social strains which have been used as catalysts for separatist and communists forces such as the NPA.
This goes back to my earlier point of Philippines' Mandate to secure its citizenry with jobs, resources.

Externally speaking, the Philippines is doing it the right way by evading in overly-diverting its much needed resources for military development. They are developing their armed forces proportionally, and at the same time developing their diplomatic defensive apparatus by forging defense cooperation with nations such as Japan, Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam, India, Malaysia, Singapore. This goes back to Malacanang's premise of sustainable development, which is, in my opinion, a responsible and pragmatic outlook. They are making leaps and strides as we speak. Time will judge them favorably.

Nihon, buddy... you're losing it:partay:. I think that perhaps you misquoted me in place of another, though I greatly appreciate the information on the Philippines' geographic, political and economic situation. I can't really complain about learning something, even if it was unexpected.

But... since they are an archipelago, ASM and AShM weapons and not thermobarics, which are useful in mountainous caves, are the way the Philippines needs to proceed, especially given their main threats are regional nation's naval weapons.
 
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