THE PHILIPPINE Army (PA) hailed outgoing Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana for his efforts in supporting the service's ongoing modernization program.
Lorenzana was honored in a testimonial dinner held at the PA Officers' Clubhouse in Fort Bonifacio on June 7, Army spokesperson, Col. Xerxes Trinidad, said Thursday.
He added that PA chief, Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., also thanked the defense chief for fully supporting the Army during his six-year term.
”In particular, the Philippine Army has acquired game-changer equipment and big-ticket items under the Horizon 2 of AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) Modernization Program, which will surely bolster the conduct of combined-arms operations, and enable our entire force to win against the various threat groups across the archipelago,” Brawner said.
Some of the major equipment acquired for the PA during Lorenzana's term include 12 units of the Autonomous Truck Mounted Howitzer System (ATMOS) 155mm/52 caliber self-propelled artillery pieces and 15 M125A2 armored mortar carriers (AMCs), which are equipped with 120mm mounted mortar systems (MMS), both acquired from Israeli defense company Elbit Systems.
The ATMOS 155mm howitzer system is a "shoot-and-scoot" weapon that can be rapidly deployed in rugged terrain and is equipped with an "inertial navigation system" (INS)-based gun-laying method and an automatic loader.
The Army received 12 ATMOS howitzer units in December 2021.
The self-propelled artillery pieces worth PHP2.4 billion were procured under the Horizon 2 of the Revised AFP Modernization Plan.
Trinidad earlier said the weapons would augment the existing 155mm towed-howitzers being operated by the Army Artillery Regiment.
"It is in addition to the existing fire support artillery guns, the 155mm-towed howitzers," the spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, the AMCs were also delivered to the PA last December and are also part of Horizon Two of the AFP Modernization Program and acquired under the Army's mounted mortar acquisition project.
"The new AMCs are part of the PA's modernization project that will capacitate the country's land force's credible defense posture from various threats, local and international," Trinidad added.
The Cardom 120mm recoil mortar system mounted on the M125A2 AMC is an autonomous, computerized system that has a range of 7,000 meters and a maximum fire rate of 16 rounds per minute operated by four crewmen.
The AMCs with MMS are used by the US Army, Israeli Defense Force, and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries. (Priam Nepomuceno)
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