Pitz Defense Analysis

Giving Proper Military Perspective in Different Defense Discussions from the Philippines and the Indo-Pacific region

[Pitz Defense Analysis @DefensePitz]

New on Pitz Defense Analysis website:

The Philippine Army successfully received the deliveries of troop transport vehicles from Isuzu Philippines, in consortium with local companies specialized in setting up this configuration.

The vehicles provides both logistical and self reliance benefits, as there is abundance of spare parts in the civilian truck market while local companies are available to provide specialized vehicles like this should there be additional orders.

Both truck variants, the F series and N series, will help the Philippine Army improve its supply network for both wartime and peacetime purposes, including providing support during natural calamities.

More details in the article below.

#PDA #PitzDefAnalysis #PhilippineArmy

https://t.co/lPnTqcdNfM

[Pitz Defense Analysis @DefensePitz]

After the sale of the BrahMos missile to the Philippine Marine Corps, the Indian aerospace company that bears the same name now pitches the same missile platform for the Philippine Army's Land-Based Missile System Acquisition Project.

If pushed through, this will add to the number of active batteries of the anti-ship cruise missile system deployed by the Philippine Armed Forces, and in a way, this will also improve the security ties already forged by both India and the Philippines through this deal.

For more information, kindly access an old article about the missile system below.

#PDA #PitzDefAnalysis #BrahMosMissile #PhilippineArmy #LandBasedMissileSystemProject

https://t.co/EJQ4f8tc4d

[SeaLight @SeaLightFound]

Teodoro Letters - Grammatical Errors

SeaLight Executive Director @GordianKnotRay breaks down the fake letters signed by 🇵🇭Philippine Defense Secretary @giboteodoro.

The May letter calls Washington "the US side", while the Armed Forces of the Philippines is inverted into the "Philippine Armed Forces" by its own Secretary; and what the China Coast Guard does in the West Philippine Sea is referred to as "law enforcement."

Oh, and the author has a real problem with the article "the". Almost as if it was written by someone whose language doesn't have an equivalent.

Listen to the video below👇

#China #Philippines

[SeaLight @SeaLightFound]

Does the 🇵🇭#Philippines Transparency Initiative Work Against China?

Last January 2025, RAND’s senior behavioral scientist Todd Helmus (@Helmus) joined @IndoPacPodcast Host Jim Carouso and SeaLight Executive Director @GordianKnotRay to explain how 🇨🇳#China exploits the maritime “gray zone” to pursue its aggressive and expansionist policies without triggering open conflict.

In this clip, Todd breaks down the strategic impact and limitations of the Philippines' transparency initiative. While shining a spotlight on maritime clashes affecting China's public diplomacy efforts, questions remain regarding audience fatigue and whether transparency alone is enough to change Beijing's calculus.

[Pitz Defense Analysis @DefensePitz]

The Armed Forces of the Philippines' procurement for its own multiple-launch rocket system (MLRS) has surfaced once again, with the Koreans actively offering the K-239 Chunmoo MLRS for this acquisition project.

Marketed by Hanwha Aerospace, the K239 Chunmoo comes as its primary product being pushed for the project, where its primary competitor being the M-142 HIMARS of the United States, which is also being actively marketed by Lockheed Martin for the Philippine Army to consider.

It remains to be seen what the development of the acquisition project itself will be, although any breakthrough from the ongoing finalization of the deal might help improve the firepower artillery capabilities of the service branch.

#PDA #PitzDefAnalysis #K239Chunmoo #PhilippineArmy #HanwhaAerospace

https://t.co/eueeyHhp9z

[SeaLight @SeaLightFound]

🚨 BREAKING: Head of Philippine Chinese Education Research Center tells Chinese-language schools to promote China's political goals

On November 6, Manila-based PCERC Chairman Huang Duanming (a.k.a. James Wang) called directly for the Philippines' Chinese-language schools to commit themselves to advancing several Chinese Communist Party political goals.

According to a post on PCERC's own Facebook page, which were also printed in several Chinese-language news outlets, Chairman Huang explicitly called for every Chinese school in the Philippines to:

1. "Uphold the One-China Principle" (秉承一个中国的原则). This term represents Beijing's hard-line position that Taiwan has always been part of the PRC, and is the basis for its mandate to "reunify" with Taiwan, by force if necessary (unlike the Philippines' more flexible One-China Policy).

2. "Add bricks and tiles to Belt and Road construction" (为一带一路建设…添砖加瓦). The Belt and Road is Xi Jinping's signature program for extending China's economic and political reach abroad, and was written into the CCP's constitution in 2017.

3. "Jointly build a community with a shared future for mankind" (共建人类命运共同体). This is Xi's slogan for a world order reshaped to suit Beijing, written into the Party's constitution in 2017 and China's state constitution in 2018.

4. "Fulfill its responsibility to the cause of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation" (为中华民族伟大复兴事业尽到自己的责任). This "great rejuvenation" is the CCP's overarching national goal and Xi's "Chinese Dream," targeted for 2049.

Huang gave this charge at an awards ceremony for the Chinese Ambassador's Education Fund. Ambassador Jing Quan then added that the attendees should not fear the recent "smears" against Chinese-language education.

That has been the Embassy's line for weeks. In October, Jing called it "complete nonsense" to describe Chinese-language education as "united front work" or "political infiltration." The Embassy has excoriated critics like Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro and SeaLight Director Ray Powell, claiming that the alarms they raised "forced more than 180 Chinese teachers out".

In other words, according to the Embassy the problem isn't the state-sponsored United Front work being carried out by the PCERC, it is those who are shining a light on it.

Huang's words echo the CCP's United Front Work Regulations, which govern how the Party wants to build support beyond its ranks -- and explicitly among ethnic Chinese around the world. These regulations name unification, rejuvenation and the "community with a shared future" as goals of its work with "overseas Chinese".

PCERC is no stranger to that system. For decades it worked closely with China's Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, which the Party folded into its United Front Work Department in 2018. That November, a visiting United Front official heard reports from PCERC's department heads and pledged to "fully support" the center.

Beijing, its Embassy and United Front-linked groups like PCERC can't have it both ways. They can't urge Chinese-language schools to advance CCP's political goals, then cry "smear" when someone points it out.

[VR @VR_NSR500]

3200 ton frigate

Steel cutting Nov 2026

To be delivered to Philippines Navy Q2 2028

I really believe if we give the budget to LUNAS to assemble LCS6, if we can lay the keel by Q4 2027, there should not be a problem to commission LCS6 by Q4 2030

[Pitz Defense Analysis @DefensePitz]

@VR_NSR500 Yes, technically speaking.

The escorts that both the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Coast Guard provided are simply extra measures to ensure that it gets the innocent passage done.

[Pitz Defense Analysis @DefensePitz]

The Philippines already has designated archipelagic sea lanes as provided under the Republic Act 12065 or the Archipelagic Sea Lanes Law (emphasis on the red lines on the map).

#PDA #PitzDefAnalysis #ArchipelagicSeaLanesLaw

[VR @VR_NSR500]

@Drethegrater Is the Philippines going to create something like the indonesian ALKI aka Archipelagic Sea Lanes so that there is only a specific route foreign ships can use as innocent passage?

https://t.co/1ZICs16hOC

[Pitz Defense Analysis @DefensePitz]

Images: HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HD HHI) and the Philippine Navy has just conducted the first steel cutting ceremony for the first 3,200 ton frigate under the Frigate Acquisition Project Full Complement.

Designed after the HDF-3200 concept of the Korean shipbuilder that the Miguel Malvar-class frigate is derived after, this will serve as the third ship belonging to the class and will be the first one among the pair of ships bought under this project.

The steel cutting that took place in November 4 gives a projected timeline that this ship will get delivered to the Philippine Navy by 2nd quarter of 2028, if there are no other impediments that will affect its delivery.

#PDA #PitzDefAnalysis #PhilippineNavy #MiguelMalvarClassFrigate #HDF3200 #HDHyundaiHeavyIndustries #SteelCutting

Other images posted for reference.

https://t.co/n1ePKUWqmI

[Pitz Defense Analysis @DefensePitz]

Images: Indonesian shipbuilder PT PAL is now starting to put pieces of the future BRP Leyte (LD604), slowly making its shape.

The keel laying ceremony for the second landing dock of this acquisition project and the forth landing platform dock of the Philippine Navy took place in 2024, of which the assembly of its blocks only took place recently, likely after BRP Laoag (LD603) got launched in June of this year.

Apparently, its delivery might likely take place somewhere by the 2nd quarter of 2027, should there be no impediments that will complicate its delivery.

#PDA #PitzDefAnalysis #PhilippineNavy #BRPLeyte #LD604 #PTPAL

Source: Kodam V/Brawijaya, YouTube (shared via Reddit). https://t.co/Kp3a0FmHt3

[U.S. Ambassador Lee Lipton @USAmbPH]

Statement to the People of the Philippines

[OSINT Digest @Indowatchosint]

Note: This update is from Two days old.

USS Paul Hamilton (DDG-60) is already in West Philippines sea

[Pitz Defense Analysis @DefensePitz]

After its long repair in a drydock and before its assignment in Eastern Mindanao Naval Command, the BRP Conrado Yap (PS30) actually took part in the commemoration of the Battle of Surigao Strait, alongside a Rajah Sulayman-class OPV

#PDA #PitzDefAnalysis #PhilippineNavy #BRPConradoYap #BattleOfSurigaoStrait

[Pitz Defense Analysis @DefensePitz]

Images: One of the Rajah Sulayman-class OPV and the BRP Conrado Yap (PS30) of the Philippine Navy, alongside Philippine Coast Guard's BRP Capones (MRRV-4404), took part on the 82nd Commemoration of the Battle of the Surigao Strait, which itself correlates to the larger Battle of the Leyte Gulf during the Second World War as part of the U.S. Liberation of the Philippines.

#PDA #PitzDefAnalysis #PhilippineNavy #PhilippineCoastGuard #BRPConradoYap #BRPCapones #RajahSulaymanClassOPV

(C) RPN DXKS Surigao

[SeaLight @SeaLightFound]

🚨NEW from @GordianKnotRay on WPS Dispatch
Sea of Pacification: 🇨🇳#China’s political war for the West Philippine Sea 🇵🇭

Ambassador Jing Quan: China "may easily win" if it chose force. "But no, we will not choose force and we love peace," so Filipinos should "feel fortunate that you have a neighbor like China."

Colonial 🇪🇸Spain had a word for this kind of "peace". In 1573, Philip II ordered that conquests be called "pacifications". Even 🇺🇸America had ran its own pacification campaign when it replaced Spain as the #Philippines' colonial government in 1898.

In a new piece for WPS Dispatch, Ray looks at how Beijing is now running its own pacification play in Manila focused on consolidating its control over the West Philippine Sea.

Understanding Beijing's rhetoric and how it seeks to reward sympathizers, discredit critics and bring Filipinos to accept the new imperial order is key to building a long-term resistance to China's attempted conquest of the West Philippine Sea. 👇

[Aaron-Matthew Lariosa @AaronMatthew_L]

A U.S. Marine Corps drone detachment in the Philippines is operating from an airfield in Palawan, expanding Washington’s crucial intelligence assistance to Manila amid tensions in the SCS. Comments from @OfficialBen_L and @RyanHClaffey.

https://t.co/X6zmccFtEm

[Pitz Defense Analysis @DefensePitz]

Both the Philippine and Japanese governments are working out the processes to make the earliest transfer of the first Abukuma-class destroyer escort possible, especially given that the former is in need of more hulls to intensify its operations within its maritime domain in both territorial and exclusive economic zone areas.

This comes as Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and Japanese Defense Minister Koizumi Shinjiro met on the sidelines of the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting (ADMM+) in Cebu City, as the Philippines is currently its chair for 2026.

The development, upon realization, will make it more likely that the Philippine Navy will receive its first destroyer escort of this type from Japan by the first quarter of 2027. However, there are no details yet as to its new nomenclature classification, the name it will bear, and the pennant number that corresponds to its new identification.

#PDA #PitzDefAnalysis #PhilippineNavy #ADMM #AbukumaClass

https://t.co/QksdMq1Yts

[Pitz Defense Analysis @DefensePitz]

Just recently, we reported the passage of the Liaoning Carrier Strike Group of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) through the Basilan Strait, near Zamboanga City, as it passed through the southern part of the country.

The full picture was unveiled, with both the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Coast Guard actively monitoring the carrier strike group, where the former deployed the BRP Diego Silang (FFG7) frigate first; it was then accompanied by BRP Emilio Jacinto under the Western Mindanao Naval Command, then the BRP Sarangani of the Philippine Coast Guard when it passed near Sarangani province, and then the BRP Artemio Ricarte when it passed into the jurisdiction of the Eastern Mindanao Naval Command.

While the entire passage can be dismissed as basically an innocent passage under international law, plus the area near Basilan Strait being a valid maritime route under the Archipelagic Sea Lanes Law or RA 12065, the appearance of the Liaoning Carrier Strike Group is still a cause of concern worth monitoring at that time, given the increased tensions between the Philippines and China as of late.

#PDA #PitzDefAnalysis #PhilippineNavy #PhilippineCoastGuard #PLAN #PeoplesLiberationArmyNavy #BRPDiegoSilang #BRPArtemioRicarte #BRPEmilioJacinto #BRPSarangani

Image (c) @Indowatchosint

[Pitz Defense Analysis @DefensePitz]

The recent collision of both SF-260FH basic trainers of the Philippine Air Force in a basic training course that took place in Batangas, raises the need to get a new type of trainer aircraft that comes with an ejection seat, especially that the basic trainer aircraft that involved in an incident does not have such feature where it could have saved the pilots if it have as a mechanism onboard.

Apparently, the previous offers made by various aerospace manufacturers such as the Korea Aerospace Industries or KAI, which is primarily responsible for supplying the FA-50 light fighter lead-in trainers to the Philippine Air Force, comes with the rationale that will help slowly replace the likes of the SF-260FH basic trainers while giving additional safety features that will increase the likelihood for its pilots to survive.

The aircraft mentioned refers to the KT-1 Woongbi aircraft that the Korean aerospace manufacturer offered to the Philippine Air Force at one point, and the offer surrounding this aircraft is worth revisiting through the article link below.

#PDA #PitzDefAnalysis #PhilippineAirForce #KT1Woongbi #SF260FHBasicTrainer

https://t.co/OREdFU0dUo

[GMA News @gmanews]

United States Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Wednesday announced an increase in the US Department of War's security cooperation funds to accelerate the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Read more:
https://t.co/JDMYB4TeiB

[NewsWatch Plus PH @newswatchplusph]

TEODORO SLAMS CHINA FOR ‘UNDERMINING ASEAN’ CLAIM

WATCH: Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said only the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members can “characterize” the organizations’ processes during his press conference following the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) on Thursday, Oct. 29.

He challenged China’s claim of being “undermined” on its part in the dialogue and the essence of ASEAN.

“So far as ASEAN is concerned, I do not believe our ASEAN member countries feel that way,” Teodoro said. “If not, they would have let me know.” | Mikaella Veraces

🎥 ASEAN Philippines 2026/Youtube