Turkey, Philippines Discuss Attack Helicopters, Amphibious Vehicles Delivery

In the first bilateral meeting between the Philippine Secretary of National Defense (SND) Delfin Lorenzana and his Turkish counterpart Minister of National Defence Hulusi Akar discussed the latest developments and way forward for Philippines-Turkey defense and military relations, in a phone call on 01 October 2021.

Discussed during the call were updates in Philippine-Turkish defense industry cooperation. Ongoing projects with Turkish defense companies are the procurement of amphibious armored combat vehicles from Turkish firm FNSS and the projected delivery of attack helicopters the Philippines bought from ASFAT.

The SND looked forward to the completion of the projects and expressed appreciation for Turkey’s continued interest to support the Philippine defense department’s ongoing modernization efforts.

Among the matters discussed were the outcomes of the most recent visits by senior Philippine military officials to Turkey. In particular, those visits conducted in April by the former Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (CSAFP) and the former Flag Officer-in-Command (FOIC) of the Philippine Navy (PN), which served as opportunities to explore prospects to deepen and further military-to-military cooperation.

The two ministers hoped to further develop bilateral defense cooperation, to cover other areas of mutual interest, including but not limited to peacekeeping, through expertise, education, and training exchange, among other possible forms of cooperation.