Philippine Army's Light Tank and Wheeled APC projects awarded to Israel's Elbit Systems
With the Philippines looking at reopening itself to business despite COVID-19 pandemic still ongoing, it looks like the Department of National Defense (DND) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP are doing the same now.
As the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) confirming the release of funding for the initial 15% of the total project costs of the Light Tank and Wheeled Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) Acquisition Projects of the Philippine Army (PA), we now believe its time to announce the results of both projects.
Not surprising, many of our community members guessed who the winners are for both the Light Tank and Wheeled APC APC Acquisition Projects. And yes, MaxDefense Philippines can finally confirm that the winner for both projects is none other than Elbit Systems Land & C4I of Israel, working closely with the Israeli Ministry of Defense, which received the Notice of Award (NOA) for the projects a few months ago.
Elbit Systems was working with General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) and Excalibur Army/Czechoslovak Group to offer the Sabrah Light Tank family using the ASCOD 2 tracked armored vehicle and the Pandur II 8x8 wheeled armored vehicle are platforms.
Also, Elbit Systems was working with IVECO Defense Vehicles for the Wheeled APC project, which offered to use the Guarani 6x6 wheeled APC. The Sabrah Light Tanks using the GDELS ASOCD 2 tracked, and GDELS-Excalibur Army Pandur II 8x8 wheeled armored vehicles as platforms (top), and the IVECO Guarani, all offered by Elbit Systems Land & C4I to the Philippine Army. Top photo from Elbit Systems, above photo from IVECO.
MaxDefense previously mentioned in past posts and blogs, as well as in our extension Philippine Defense Resource, that as as October 2019, the Department of National Defense (DND) already released a Acquisition Decision Memorandum (ADM) that points to the Light Tank and Wheeled APC Projects to be acquired through Government-to-Government (G2G) process.
This was later affirmed in April 2020 with the PA and DND finally confirming that the project would be undertaken with the Israeli Ministry of Defense's International Defense Cooperation Directorate (MODSIBAT). So far, IMOD-SIBAT has assigned only Elbit Systems as their proponent.
The DND was already preparing the details and terms for the project's contract when the Philippine government decided to stop international travel and close the country due to COVID-19 pandemic. This delayed the entire process since both the Light Tank and Wheeled APC projects were among those affected by the realignment and diversion of funding as covered by Republic Act 11469, or the Bayanihan to Heal and One Act.
The Light Tank's 1st MYCA allocation worth Php1,422,649,800.00 provided under GAA FY2019, and the Wheeled APC's 1st and 2nd MYCA allocations worth Php339,780,000.00 and Php792,820,000.00 as provided by GAA FY2019 and FY2020, respectively were among those included in the fund diversions/But not all was lost. Due to the realignment, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the DND revised its funding plan for FY2020, by identifying which projects from the original GAA FY2019 and FY2020 are the most important. Among those considered important were the Light Tank and Wheeled APC projects. This allowed both projects to be re-assigned with funding of what remained of the GAA FY2019 and Y2020
funds.
Thus, the 1st MYCA for the Light Tank worth Php1,422,649,800.00 and the 1st MYCA for the Wheeled APC worth Php339,780,000.00 were restored. They only adjusted the project's delivery schedule which is now to be completed by 2022 instead of 2021. The 3rd and final MYCA allocations for both projects were also moved to be funded under FY2022. This revision was approved by the DND and national government on May 2020, and paved the way to continue with the finalization of both projects.
As early as August 2020, MaxDefense already received confirmation that the DND has released Notices of Awards (NOA) for both projects to Elbit Systems Land & C4I, which also represented their partners in the project. When Elbit Systems formally included the Sabrah Light Tank family into their portfolio as posted on their website since last August 2020, it was actually a heads-up that something positive already happened. The information was also confirmed by MaxDefense sources who were familiar with the project.
And since the Wheeled APC would be closely tied to the Light Tank Project, it was expected that it would also be reaching the same milestone.
With the funding allocation for both projects already released, its only a matter of time for both project to proceed further.
Why Guarani 6x6 for Wheeled APC, and not Pandur II 6x6?Another main point that many of our readers have been asking, is why did Elbit Systems offered to use the IVECO Guarani 6x6 for its Wheeled APC offer, rather than use the GDELS/Excalibur Army Pandur II 6x6? Commonality should have been a factor in deciding to go with Pandur II 6x6 since it shares a lot of parts and traits as the Pandur II 8x8 that Elbit offered for the Wheeled Tank component of the Light Tank project. According to Army sources, it was the Philippine Army's Technical Working Group who actually decided to go for the IVECO Guarani, as Elbit Systems offered both the Guarani 6x6 and Pandur II 6x6 for the project. But it appears that Pandur II was more expensive than the Guarani, since Guarani benefits from cheaper. Brazilian labour and steel compared to the Pandur II which is produced in the Czech Republic.
Also, if Elbit Systems offered to use IVECO's Italian-made SuperAV 8x8 wheeled armored vehicle for the Wheeled Tank component of the Light Tank project, it would also be more expensive than the Pandur II 8x8, thus the decision to stick with Pandur II 8x8. Honestly, this is one of the flaws in the Philippine defense procurement, as it makes more sense for the Philippine Army to have chosen the Pandur II 6x6 if cost is the only issue.
https://maxdefense.blogspot.com/2020/10/philippine-armys-light-tank-and-wheeled.html