Philippines Rodrigo Duterte President approved a five-year plan of the military department to modernize the armed forces, According to Kommersant.
In total, the project is allocated from the budget 300 billion. peso ($5,6 billion.).
As the representative of the Philippines said the Ministry of Defense, priority is the acquisition of UAVs, patrol aircraft, maritime patrol ships non-nuclear submarine. Besides, about a billion dollars will be spent on the purchase of light tanks and helicopters.
According to the researcher of the RAS IFES Vasily Kashin, Amphibious question of modernization is long overdue: The Philippines has long been demonstrated "a complete technical inability to protect its interests" because of the lack of a full-fledged army and navy.
Today, the Philippines moved away from the traditional alliance with the United States and try to counterbalance the influence of Washington's ties with China. However, the purchase of weapons in one of these countries could lead to a deterioration of relations with the other. Therefore, a logical step would be to appeal to extra-regional players, that is, to Russia or the European Union, says expert.
According to him, Russia will have good opportunities to offer their services and reach a new arms market. This can also contribute to a complex system of arms export control in the EU.
Recall, in October 2017 Year Manila signed with Moscow an agreement on military-technical cooperation. The document became a starting point in the development of defense ties between the two countries. Earlier, the Philippines received weapons from the United States. Pro-American orientation of the country's leadership to the policy remained 2016 of the year, when the presidency was elected Rodrigo Duterte, who began to diversify foreign policy.
