The 42 units of Rhinemetall MG3 7.62x51GP machine guns that was presented by the Chief, PNP PGEN ALBAYALDE on May 6, 2019 will be the new addition to the firepower of PNP Maritime Group’s HSTWs.
Maxdefense Philippines actually mentioned this about a week ago:
1. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=950062481831076&id=117625771741422
2. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=950208178483173&id=117625771741422
RELATED: Safehull Marine, Propmech build PNP Maritime Group boats
To clear, we confirm that these MG3 machine guns will be installed in the newly acquired High-Speed Tactical Watercrafts (HSTW).
If you would recall, there are 28 HSTWs in the PNP Maritime Group’s inventory:
– 7 from ALS Marine; and
– 21 from Propmech.
The MG3s will be installed on the 21 Propmech-made HSTWs only. Two (2) MG3s per boat.
The gun mounts of these boats are clearly visible in the NAPOLCOM specs design. See the photo below:
Likewise, some photos from the operators of these HSTWs are available, which show the gun mounts. To get a view of the actual gun mount post, look at the photo below.
Likewise, for the other 7 from ALS Marine and the 22 that have been bid but still undelivered, the machine guns for those boats are in the pipeline (will tackle that in the future).
In contrast, there is no assurance whether those will still be MG3s considering how the public bidding process in the PNP works.
Above all, this is a big boost to the overall capability of the Maritime Group and the PNP as a whole. We hope that more assets and firepower will be procured for the PNP Maritime Group.
(c) Photo credits to the owner (Inquirer).
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