Light Armor System Upgrade for the Philippine Marines

[adroth]

Following in the Philippine Army's foot steps, the Combat Service & Support Brigade (CSSB) is putting its V-150 wheeled APCs through a Light Armor System Upgrade. Photo of unmodifed V-150 below, in urban (Berlin Brigade) camo:

The program, among other things, replaces existing engines with the much more powerful powerplant used in the larger V-300. This promises to simplify logistics. V-300 fire-support version shown below.

Here is a video of the roll out of the first modified LARSU V-150. Note the longer engine compartment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef37XSnGQ4o

The great thing about this program is that it did not involved additional mlitary aid. New engines were sourced by the internal AFP budget.

Existing engines will be used to revive decommissions Chaimite APCs. Someone finally took long hard look at what we already had and revive vehicles that less-than-insightful officers had written off as scrap.

This and other restoration programs have dramatically improved the CSSB's capabilities in a space of only 3 years.

 

[gforce]

They still lack RPG protection which is abundant in the ARMM... and the same thing goes with the other Philippine Armor.

 

[adroth]

They still lack RPG protection which is abundant in the ARMM... and the same thing goes with the other Philippine Armor.

They are not as abundant as you think, most are also not meant to defeat armor, and but anti-personnel purposes.

 

[STURM]

Adroth, have any army vehicles been hit by RPGs or other shoulder launched weapons, over the years? Also, I've seen photos of MILF troops with RPG-2s, do they have any
RPG-7s? Lastly, what shoulder launched weapons does the Philipinne Army use? Thanks.

 

[adroth]

Adroth, have any army vehicles been hit by RPGs or other shoulder launched weapons, over the years? Also, I've seen photos of MILF troops with RPG-2s, do they have any
RPG-7s? Lastly, what shoulder launched weapons does the Philipinne Army use? Thanks.

I don't really have official statistics of vehicles lost to anti-tank weaponry. But we do know, that we've lost at least one V-300 FSV. The following discussion describes how an M-113, that fell out of formation, was lost during the 2000 campaign:

How does the AFP use its tanks and fire support vehicles?

What is described above is reportedly one of the largest, if not the largest, use of armor on the Philippines since WWII.

Losses like this appear to be more the exception than the rule. From what we've gathered, mines and IEDs are more of a threat than RPGs.

AFAIK, muslim secessionists use BR-40s, primarily anti-personnel versions. These are reportedly hobbled together whenever they face the press. The actual fighters don't really have them in great quantity.

The AFP itself uses recoiless rifles and AT weapons in the LAW / Armbrust category. If they have other systems in storage . . . we haven't seen them.

 

[STURM]

Adroth, thank you for the feed back and the link. There was an excellent article on PMC armour in Military Machines about a year back.

Losses like this appear to be more the exception than the rule. From what we've gathered, mines and IEDs are more of a threat than RPGs.

It was the same during Malaysia's counter insurgency campaign. The main threat to armoured vehicles operated by the army and police was also mines. In 1979 however, an army V-150 armed with a 90mm gun was hit by an RPG-2 killing all onboard.

AFAIK, muslim secessionists use BR-40s, primarily anti-personnel versions. These are reportedly hobbled together whenever they face the press. The actual fighters don't really have them in great quantity.

I think these are leftovers from those supplied by Libya in the 80's. I've also seen the ASG with what appears to be an M-20 3.5 inch rocket launcher. May have been captured from the army.

 

[adroth]

I think these are leftovers from those supplied by Libya in the 80's.

This is doubtful. If the AFP has problems with ammunition that reaches 10 years of age . . . then RPGs from that period would be more of a threat to the user than the target.

Either they've developed limited manufacturing/refurbishment capability, or arms smugglers have been successful in bringing them in. The nature of the illiegal arms trade in Mindanao will make your jaw drop.

Weapons don't have to be sourced from corrupt soldiers. Controls have actually improved over the years.

The completion of the Coast Watch South detection network will make smuggling even harder.

I've also seen the ASG with what appears to be an M-20 3.5 inch rocket launcher. May have been captured from the army.

AFAIK, we haven't been using bazookas for years. So it is also doubtful that they got that from the AFP.

Lets also remember that the secessionists have been known to bring mock-ups of weapons to their press releases, to make them more menacing than they really are.