An Assessment of the Naval Capability of the Philippines in Achieving Minimum Credible Defense (original) (raw)

The research presents an analysis of the process of attaining minimum credible defense through the assessment of the progress of the country’s naval modernization. The aim of the study is to assess the Philippine Navy (PN) Sail Plan 2030 under the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Modernization program, which in turn will be used as a component in analyzing the attainment of the minimum credible defense of the country. The assessment of naval military capability of the Philippines pertains to the actions and decisions taken by the government in naval force enhancement. Another agenda of the study is to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the strategies undertaken by the government in attaining minimum credible defense. Vital to the study was the analysis of government agency structures, actions and decisions in enhancing the navy and the problems encountered along the process and the consequences due to the implemented decisions. The primary question which the research aims to answer is ‘how has the Philippines attempted to attain a minimum credible defense through the modernization of the Navy?’ The term enhancement was operationalized by the process of modernization of navy in attaining minimum credible defense. The other term explicated is minimum credible defense through the definitions argued by different scholars. The process by which the questions were answered was through the assessment of the PN Sail Plan 2030 which included the examination of military enhancement policies, national budgeting, government transactions, navy enhancement policies and foreign policies. Qualities of naval equipment and vehicles were studied in relation to the budgets allocated which determined any accomplishment by the Philippine government in attaining minimum credible defense. Findings show that through undertaking the PN Sail Plan 2030, the Philippines aimed at refocusing its empowerment of the Army into reorganizing the entire military forces, balancing the priority for the Army, Navy and Airforce. However, agencies faced organizational, hierarchical, political and material acquisition complications. The success of the government in modernizing its navy has merely substandard results of a recent policy of the current administration wherein problems regarding strict implementation of rules and regulations, hierarchy, bureaucratic effectiveness and efficiency, government strength and consistency of policies from one administration to the next. This led for the researchers to conclude that the attainment of a minimum credible defense has been hampered by the influence of the inefficient implementation of the AFP Modernization.

NS P-8589 Defense Reform in the Republic of the Philippines

Implementing the Philippine Defense Reform Program through the Defense System of Management, 2017

Established in 2004, the Philippine Defense Reform (PDR) Program envisioned the implementation of reforms that would affect every level of the Philippine defense establishment and military. The ultimate goal of PDR was to create more capable armed forces. To do that, PDR focused on reforming the defense establishment for the benefit of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Therefore, PDR required the support and focus of senior leaders and staff at all levels and a substantial commitment of people. This paper explores why, from a Philippine perspective, PDR was needed and how it was implemented through the Defense System of Management (DSOM) approach. This paper will also describe how the United States Department of Defense (DOD) partnered with the Republic of the Philippines Department of National Defense (DND) in implementing PDR with a particular focus on multi-year defense planning and the related areas of capability planning and defense budgeting.

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Developing a Credible Defense Posture for the Philippines: From the Aquino to the Duterte Administrations

Since 2011, the Aquino administration has bolstered the development of a credible external defense posture of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in the face of China’s territorial expansion in the South China Sea. This move entailed the upgrading of the Philippine Navy’s and the Philippine Air Force’s capabilities for maritime domain awareness and naval interdiction. The Aquino administration also anchored its strategic agenda on the 60-year-old Philippines-U.S. alliance by signing the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). The election of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte as the 16th president of the Philippines, however, generated uncertainties on whether or not he will continue building the AFP’s territorial defense capabilities. Eventually, Duterte decided to continue the Aquino administration’s build-up as a hedge, in case he should find it imperative in the future to pursue his predecessor’s policy of challenging China’s expansive claim in the South China Sea. The article concludes that like Aquino’s security policy, the Duterte administration is also committed to building up the Philippine military’s credible defense posture—in light of the growing uncertainties in the region marked by China’s emergence and the perceived retreat of the United States as a Pacific power. Key words: credible defense, Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, Rodrigo Duterte, South China Sea, U.S. alliance 自2011年起, 阿基诺政府就已加强了菲律宾武装部队（Armed Forces of the Philippines

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The Philippines Discovers its Maritime Domain: The Aquino Administration's Shift in Strategic Focus from Internal to Maritime Security

How do strategic changes affect small powers? How do small powers adjust to strategic changes? This article addresses these two questions as it examines the strategic shift in the Philippines’ defense policy from internal to maritime security. With China’s naval expansion in the South China Sea, the Philippine government has eased up its counter-insurgency/counter-terrorism campaign and has vigorously pursued instead the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) particularly in developing the deterrence capability of the Philippine Navy (PN). However, slow-paced and hampered by scant resources, the naval build-up will hardly deter China’s encroachment on the Philippine maritime territory. Faced with this predicament, the Philippines has resorted to forging new security partnerships with the United States and Japan, two major naval powers in East Asia. The paper concludes that maritime security will remain the Philippines’ priority concern way into the third decade of the 21st century.

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Implementing the Philippine Defense Reform Program in Partnership with US Department of Defense Support of Philippine Defense Institutions

Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs, 2019

Begun in 2004, the Philippine Defense Reform (PDR) Program affected the entire Philippine defense establishment. Its goal was to create more-capable armed forces. To do that, the PDR required the support of senior leaders at all levels of the Department of National Defense (DND) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)—as well as a substantial commitment of people. This article explains why, from a Philippine perspective, senior leaders within the Philippines defense sector felt reform was needed and how it was implemented. It also describes how the United States Department of Defense (DOD) partnered with the Republic of the Philippines to implement PDR with a particular focus on defense-force planning and budgeting.

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Security Sector Reform in the Philippines: Modern Defense Force

I wrote the Chapter on Civil-Military Operations. ABOUT THE BOOK The authors have attempted to break apart the ten-point agenda towards a Modern Defense Force to problematize and translate the big words into smaller, bite-sized, chewable pieces. The essays attempt to elaborate on the intricacies of the concept ‘modern defense force,’ and engage the reader to think through the issues. The authors have extensive knowledge as regards the issues they have dealt with in their essays – some of them are military officers in active duty, others are researchers who were involved in actual policy research while in the Department of National Defense (DND) and/or Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), while others are academics involved in security research. The writers are part of the technical working group (TWG) created for this research publication while some were invited contributors. The papers, prior to publication, were all subjected to thorough discussion by the TWG. While the essay-writer has full responsibility to his/her work, each paper was vetted, challenged, and debated upon by the entire TWG. The series of TWG discussions happened during the period January to December 2012. No confidential information is revealed in any of the papers.

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THE MODERNISATION OF INDONESIAN NAVAL FORCES IN JOKOWI ERA

Jebat: Malaysian Journal of History, Politics & Strategic Studies, 2020

As an archipelago country, Indonesia has faced a lots of threats from the sea. Because of that, Indonesia has implemented Global Maritime Axis Policy (GMA) as a new strategy to protect its national interest and sovereignty. One of the GMA objective is to modernise Indonesia Naval Force. Using data and research findings from 2014- 2018, this article will debate about the modernization of Indonesia naval force under Jokowi Administration. This study has three objectives, namely toexplains the Indonesia naval capabilities, toanalyse the development of Indonesian naval force and to analyse the evolving of Indonesian navy doctrine. The findings reveal that first, Indonesia’s government has taken in an effort to get in the linkages between the changing contours, its function in the area, which, shifted, is being backed through its naval modernisation and expansion, and second, Indonesia has collectively doubled their military spending with warships, maritime patrol aircraft, radar systems, submarines and naval defence systems based on their Minimum Essential Forces (MEF) doctrine so that Tentara Nasional Indonesia-Angkatan Laut (TNI-AL) capable an enhance the Green Water Navy concept.

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The Role of Middle Powers in the Modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP): The Case of the Special Japan-Australia Strategic Partnership and the Philippines

Korean Journal of Defense Analysis, 2019

This article explores the efforts of Japan and Australia to enhance the naval capability of third countries—specifically the Philippines—threatened by the rise of China. Considered as middle powers, both countries are members of two associations of maritime democracies, namely: the Democratic Security Diamond (DSD), and the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD). Since the formation of their special strategic partnership, Japan and Australia have jointly assisted in building up the capabilities of the Philippine Navy (PN), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), and the Philippine Air Force (PAF). The recent dramatic shift in Philippine foreign policy direction fosters this triangular security relationship. On the one hand, President Rodrigo Duterte, in distancing the Philippines from the United States (the country’s traditional ally) favors closer security ties with Japan and Australia. On the other hand, Japan and Australia want to prevent the Philippines from gravitating closer to China’s orbit of influence and power. Gradually, however, this development can either modify or erode the American hub-and-spoke system of alliance in East Asia and increase the spoke-to-spoke links leading to the creation of minilateral and plurilateral security arrangements in the Indo–Pacific regio

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