Philippine Navy

The Philippine Navy is being rebuilt around a single strategic problem: defending maritime claims in the West Philippine Sea against a vastly larger Chinese coast guard, militia and navy presence. Its doctrine has shifted from internal security and constabulary work to archipelagic defence, resupplying garrisons on contested features, and creating enough deterrent capability, in cooperation with the United States, Japan and Australia, to raise the cost of coercion.

The combat fleet is small but genuinely modern for the first time. Two Jose Rizal-class frigates were joined by the two Miguel Malvar-class guided-missile frigates, delivered from South Korea and commissioned in 2025, giving the navy its first ships with a credible anti-air and anti-ship missile fit. Two Rajah Sulayman-class offshore patrol vessels entered service in 2026 for sustained patrol work, alongside Acero-class fast attack interdiction craft armed with guided missiles for littoral defence. Amphibious lift rests on Tarlac-class landing docks, and the navy has begun fielding uncrewed surface vessels for surveillance.

The acquisition pipeline is unusually full for a navy of this size. Two additional Miguel Malvar-class frigates were ordered from South Korean industry in 2026 for delivery by 2029, and in July 2026 Manila finalised an agreement with Tokyo for five retired Abukuma-class destroyer escorts, one of Japan's largest transfers of naval combatants and a step that will roughly double the number of ocean-capable escorts in Philippine service. Shore-based anti-ship missile batteries acquired from India provide a coastal denial layer that complements the fleet.

Under the Re-Horizon 3 phase of the modernisation programme, the navy intends to acquire at least two conventional submarines, with French, Italian and South Korean designs in contention, a capability Manila has sought for two decades and which would fundamentally change the calculus around its maritime approaches. Funding remains the constraint: the programme depends on sustained budget commitments across administrations, and delivery timelines stretch into the 2030s.

Operationally, the navy's focus is the resupply of Second Thomas Shoal and the sustainment of garrisons across the Spratlys, missions repeatedly obstructed by water cannon, ramming and blockade. It conducts joint patrols with the United States, Japan and Australia in the South China Sea, participates in exercises including Balikatan and, for the first time with a modern frigate, the Rim of the Pacific exercise in 2026. Its reach remains regional and its resources modest, but the trajectory is one of rapid, externally supported modernisation.