Why submarines

August 28, 2018 Opinion Sideglance

The recent announcements by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana that they are seriously looking into the possibility of acquiring, for the first in the history of the country, several submarines to patrol our territorial seas and maritime borders is certainly a welcome development in this time defensive and even offensive laden posturing of other countries to thwart any aggressive intentions from other countries.

If other countries in Southeast Asia such as Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia have been making purchases for military armament what’s to prevent our own country and government from acquiring our own submarines and other naval equipment if only to guarantee that we are at least militarily capable of defending our precious archipelago from any outside aggression.

There is no doubt that in this time of high tech weaponry such as attack drones and smart missiles the Philippines is still a baby when compared to other countries in South East Asia who have already armed themselves with modern arms and technology to defend their sovereignty and territorial jurisdictions.

We are fortunate that we have now a government willing to take measures to rehabilitate and modernize our Armed Forces of the Philippines.

We must remember that adage that “to have peace one must be prepared to go to war”. We have to realize that in this modern world there are countries that have become bullies and who disparage and threaten other nations who are deemed militarily, economically and politically weak in stature.

Of course the country and the people have no desire whatsoever to invade or attack another State but if it happens that if it is our country that is invaded by another State shouldn’t we have the capability to defend ourselves military? There is no question that for the past twenty years or more the AFP has not experienced any serious upgrade and remains a so and so military force in the South East Asian Region. While Vietnam has already acquired a squadron of F-16 fighter jets to boost its military air superiority the Philippine has yet to purchase its own squadron of quality fighter jets, and although we are looking to strengthen our naval capability it will only be a matter of time before our country will also consider upgrading its air force to bolster its military jets and other air force war material.

For now the AFP and the defense community led by Secretary Lorenzana should seriously consider buying not only one but three quality submarines, be they from Russia or any other country willing to sell such kinds of war vessel.,

Now the reason why we need submarines, and I mention this in the plural form, is because there is more water in our archipelago than land and if we seriously hope to effectively patrol our seas and oceans then most definitely a submarine vessel is the way to go.

Having a submarine for our naval forces will give the AFP the capability to go on full stealth mode when patrolling our waters and this will definitely have a dampening effect on the evil by pirates, smugglers and terrorists as they traverse near our maritime borders.

Also having submarines is a potent deterring factor in any attempt to disturb our sovereignty and territorial integrity and gives us the advantage over those who would plan to invade our shores.