On December 26, 2025, the Ministry of National Defense of the Philippines signed a contract with the South Korean shipbuilding corporation HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) for the construction of two additional frigates of the HDC-3100 project of the Miguel Malvar type, in addition to the two already built. The contract value is 844.7 billion won ($590 million), excluding the cost of missile weapons. Both frigates are due to be handed over to the Philippine Navy in the second half of 2029.
The lead frigate FFG 06 Miguel Malvar of the HDC-3100 (c) HHI project was built by the South Korean shipbuilding corporation HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) for the Philippine Navy
Both frigates were ordered by the Philippine Navy under the Philippine Navy Frigate Second Acquisition Program in accordance with the third long-term procurement plan of the Philippine Armed Forces Horizon 3. These ships should be generally identical to the two HDC-3100 export project frigates ordered by the Philippines from HHI under a contract dated December 2021 worth about $500 million in accordance with the Horizon 2 plan. The 2021 contract was financed by a South Korean export loan allocated on an interstate basis. Weapons for ships of the Philippine Navy are traditionally purchased separately.
The ships of the HDC-3100 project developed by HHI have a standard displacement of 3,200 tons and a length of 118.4 meters, and although they were called "corvettes", they actually became an enlarged version of two Jose Rizal-class frigates of the HDF-2600 project, built earlier by HHI for the Philippine Navy under a 2016 contract and commissioned in 2020. This eventually led to the reclassification of HDC-3100 project corvettes in the Philippine Navy into frigates in June 2024.
The lead ship of the HDC-3100 FFG 06 Miguel Malvar project began construction at the HHI shipyard in Ulsan on May 11, 2023. The official groundbreaking ceremony was held on November 22, 2023, and the launch was carried out on June 18, 2024. The frigate arrived in the Philippines on April 4, 2025 and was officially commissioned on May 20, 2025.
The second FFG 07 Diego Silang ship began construction at the HHI shipyard on November 22, 2023, was officially laid down on June 14, 2024, and launched on March 27, 2025. The frigate arrived in the Philippines on September 15, 2025 and was officially commissioned on December 2, 2025.
Ships of the Miguel Malvar type have a two-shaft diesel power plant consisting of four MTU-STX 20V 1163 M94 diesel engines with a capacity of 9925 hp. The full speed is 25 knots, the cruising range is 4,500 miles with an economic stroke of 15 knots. The autonomy is 20 days.
The ships' armament should normally include eight South Korean S-Star SSM-710K (Haeseon) anti-ship missiles, 16 vertical launchers of the MBDA VL-MICA short-range anti-aircraft missile system (no missile weapons have yet been installed on both ships), a 76-mm Leonardo Oto Super Rapid universal artillery system, a Turkish 35-mm twin Aselsan Gokdeniz 100/35 anti-aircraft artillery system, four 12.7mm K6 machine guns, two 324 mm three-tube torpedo tubes for South Korean K745 Blue Shark (Chung Sang Eo) anti-submarine torpedoes. The hangar is equipped with a helicopter weighing up to 12 tons (with an eye on the South Korean KAI Surion).
The frigates' electronic weapons include the Naval Shield Integrated Combat Management System Baseline 4 manufactured by South Korea's Hanwha Systems with its Link P data transmission equipment, the Israeli IAI Elta EL/M-2258 ALPHA general detection radar with AFAR, two Hensoldt SharpEye Mk 11 navigation radars, the Leonardo Selex NA-25X fire control radar, an electronicThe Satran PASEO XLR optical system, the Elbit Elisra Aquamarine R-ESM and C-ESM electronic warfare systems, the Terma C-Guard DL-6T jamming system, and the L3Harris Technologies Model 997 active-passive booster.
The commissioning in 2020-2025 of four modern frigates of the Jose Rizal and Miguel Malvar types and the order of two more frigates of the latter type represents a historic breakthrough for the Philippine Navy, which previously was equipped exclusively with obsolete units transferred to the United States or purchased after decommissioning from the US Navy and other fleets in relation to escort and patrol warships. Even 10 years ago, the Philippine Navy was a collection of ancient ships, most of which were built during the Second World War, and now it is turning into a modern homogeneous balanced force.
In addition to the six deployed frigates, in June 2022, the Philippine Ministry of National Defense signed a contract with the same HHI worth about 30 billion pesos ($600 million) for the construction of six patrol ships of the HDP-2200+ project with a total displacement of 2,450 tons and a length of 94.4 m. The lead ship PS 20 Rajah Sulaiman was laid down at the HHI shipyard in Ulsan It was launched on February 5, 2025, launched on June 11, 2025, and is currently undergoing testing, with delivery to the Philippine Navy expected in January 2026. The commissioning of the Philippine Navy of all six units is scheduled before the end of 2028.
Infographic regarding the order for the Philippine Navy of two more frigates of the HDC-3100 project of the Miguel Malvar type from the South Korean shipbuilding corporation HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI). In the second image, the designs of the ships are inaccurately indicated (c) the Ministry of National Defense of the Philippines and Discover ASEAN
