Philippines To Get American Choppers, M4 Rifles By Year End

Philippines Armed Forces get 21 renewed UH1H or Huey helicopters and 50,000 American M4 rifles by year end, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said on Thursday in a report by GMA news online.

Defense Undersecretary Fernando Manalo said the UHIH helicopters would cost P1.264 billion and an additional P4 billion on 75,000 Remington M4's.

Gazmin said four helicopters were already being assembled at the Clark Freeport Zone while three were already en route. The four helicopters are part of the 21 Hueys which the Philippines will acquire from a joint venture of American and Canadian firms.

Gazmin said the first 100 Remington M4 rifles would be delivered in July.  He said 27,200 rifles would arrive in August while the last batch of 23,000 would be here in December.

The defense secretary added that two of the 12 South Korean jets the Philippines contracted are expected to be delivered in September 2015.

The new guns and aircrafts were part of the country's P75-billion effort to modernize its armed forces, particularly those units patrolling the disputed territory in the South China Sea.