Anti-Submarine Warfare Helicopters Acquisition Project of the Philippine Navy

Philippine Defense Resource August 26, 2025 0

To improve its anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities while providing its new combat warships with a proper aerial component, the Philippine Navy has requested for the acquisition of six new Anti-Submarine Warfare helicopters as part of the Re-Horizon 3 phase of the Revised AFP Modernization Program (RAFPMP)

This project discusses about the upcoming Anti-Submarine Warfare Helicopters Acquisition Project of the Philippine Navy, also known as the Anti-Submarine Helicopters Phase 2 Acquisition Project. This is to separate from an earlier project with the same/similar name.

An AW159 Wildcat naval helicopter of the Philippine Navy.

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Project Summary:

Anti-Submarine Warfare Helicopter (aka Anti-Submarine Helicopter Phase 2) Acquisition Project:

Note: Edited as of 26 August 2025.

* End User: Philippine Navy (Naval Air Wing)

* Quantity: 6 units including ILS and munitions

* Modernization Phase: Re-Horizon 3 Phase of RAFPMP,

* Project ABC: Php42,290,538,180.00

* Acquisition Mode: Government-to-Government (G2G) with still unidentified country, based on Negotiated Inventory-Based Items clause of RA12009.

* Source of Funding: TBC

* SARO Release/s: TBA

* Winning Proponent: TBA

* Product for Delivery: TBA

* Contract Price: TBA

* Residual Amount: TBA

* First post by MaxDefense:

* MaxDefense Searching Hashtag: #PNASWHelicopterPhase2Acquisition #PNASHPhase2Acquisition

* Status: The project is a follow-on to the Anti-Submarine Helicopter project implemented under Horizon 1 phase, as more surface combatants enter Philippine Navy service. Project was part of Horizon 3 proposal, and was carried over to Re-Horizon 3 phase with a slightly increased budget. Project Terms of Reference reportedly approved as of June 2025.

The Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk.

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Overview:

The Philippine Navy has been growing its naval capabilities including introducing more major surface combatants to its fleet since 2020. These surface combatants are capable of multi-domain combat including anti-submarine warfare (ASW), anti-surface warfare (ASuW), among others.

With this, there is also a growing need for additional naval helicopters capable of both ASW and ASuW operations, which will complement these ships.

The Anti-Submarine Helicopter will be capable of operating from Philippine Navy ships, and will be most likely assigned to the new Miguel Malvar-class frigates, and other upcoming surface combatants including the winning designs for the Frigate (Full Complement) and Corvette (Phase 2) Acquisition Projects that are being pursued under the Re-Horizon 3 phase of the RAFPMP.

The helicopters are expected to be able to deploy a dipping sonar, have capability to interpret data from dipping sonar and sonobuoys while also working together with other naval and air assets, and will be capable of firing anti-submarine torpedoes as well as launching air-to-surface missiles.

According to sources, the Philippine Navy actually received offers from Leonardo, which is currently offering the AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat that the Philippine Navy already has in service, while Sikorsky Helicopters and Airbus NH Industries are offering their MH-60R Seahawk and NH90NFH naval helicopters, respectively.

The AW159 Wildcat has an advantage, being already in service with the Philippine Navy in terms of commonality and price. It was said to be the cheapest option among the 3 offers, and is already proven with the PN.

The MH-60R Seahawk is the naval variant of the S-70 Black Hawk, in which the Philippine Air Force is becoming one of the largest operators of the S-70i Black Hawk variant. The MH-60R is the latest iteration and features improved overall capability, avionics and weapons delivery.

Surprisingly, Airbus is said to be offering the NH Industries NH90 NATO Frigate Helicopter (NFH), instead of the AS565MBe Panther that it offered back in the Anti-Submarine Helicopter Acquisition Project back in 2014-2016. Compared to the Panther, the NH90 is larger and far more expensive, and is actually not a 100% Airbus product but more of a product from a larger conglomerate of European aircraft companies.

Surprisingly, Airbus was said to be offering the NH90 NFH instead of the Airbus AS565MBe Panther naval helicopter. Photo credits to German Navy and Airbus.

So far, the DND was said to have positioned itself on applying the Republic Act 12009's Negotiated 53.8.1 - Inventory Based Items, which means that the DND would be procuring a product that is already in the Philippine Navy's inventory.

This places the AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat in a favorable position, moreso with Leonardo actively looking for new buyers of the type as the production is currently only catering to a small order by the Algerian Navy scheduled for delivery in a few years time.

But the selection of the AW159 Wildcat also places the Philippine Navy in a difficult position considering its ally the United States, as well as its Multilateral Defense partners like Australia and Japan, and other Strategic Partners like South Korea and India, are all users of the MH-60R or SH-60 Seahawk helicopters.

This means that the Philippine Navy may lose out in terms of being in a common fleet of naval helicopters as its expected coalition partners, having disadvantage in sharing spare parts, getting maintenance and other support with countries using the Seahawk helicopter.

It would still be determined if Leonardo will indeed win this project, or a different interpretation can be made on 53.8.1 to allow MH-60R based on the AFP being a user of the S-70A and S-70i Black Hawk derivatives.

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U P D A T E S:
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10 July 2025:

In its latest Procurement Monitoring Report as of 1st Half of 2025, the Department of National Defense has confirmed that the mode of procurement of the Anti-Submarine Warfare Helicopter Acquisition Project (Phase 2) of the Philippine Navy will be through Negotiated 53.8.1 (Inventory-Based Item) as of 05 June 2025, and that the Terms of Reference of the project was approved on 24 June 2025.

This means that acquisition of additional ASW helicopters, which we previously reported to be 6 units with a budget of Php42,290,538,180.00 will most likely be awarded to Italian defense giant Leonardo for the AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat naval helicopters.

The term "Inventory-Based Item" means that the DND will be procuring based on what the Philippine Navy already has in its inventory, rather than opening a public tender which will possibly push the Philippine Navy to acquire another helicopter model depending on the winning proponent.

So far our parent page MaxDefense Philippines has not received word if the project can push through this year, although the report mentioned that it will be financed either by Multi-Year Contractual Authority (MYCA aka paid for in installment every year using yearly GAA funding allocations) or through Loan Financing which will make it faster for the DND to start the project.

PDR and MDP will investigate more if this project can push through this year since the Terms of Reference of the project, which is the basis of what will be the contract between the DND and the proponent, is already approved and the next process will be securing the funding and releasing a Notice of Award.

It is interesting that this project is ahead in terms of processing compared to the Frigate (Full Complement) aka Frigate Phase 2 Acquisition Project which the procurement process is yet to be approved and the terms of reference not yet approved, when sources confirmed that the DND is pushing for the Frigate's contract to be signed before yearend.

This means that there is a huge chance that the ASW Helicopter Phase 2 Acquisition may overtake the Frigate (Full Complement) and be contracted also this year.