Leonardo UK is poised to secure a new contract to supply six additional AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat anti-submarine warfare helicopters to the Philippine Navy for P42.290 billion (approx USD 745 million).
Philippines’ Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said at a congressional budget hearing in mid-September that they were negotiating for the procurement of additional anti-submarine warfare helicopters for the Navy’s newest warships. While there was no direct mention of Leonardo, he said that “it doesn’t make sense to have a different platform anymore” in procuring the new anti-submarine warfare helicopters and related systems to avoid re-tooling. Naval News sources also point to Leonardo as the likely selected supplier for the acquisition project.
Leonardo (then Finmeccanica until 2017) supplied the first two AW159 anti-submarine warfare helicopters for the Philippine Navy in a contract worth P5.4 billion (USD 114 million) signed in 2016 to complement the two Rizal-class frigates built by South Korea’s HD Hyundai. The helicopters were delivered in 2019 ahead of the arrival of the first of two frigates a year later.
According to a Department of National Defense procurement monitoring report released in July, the project’s Terms of Reference were approved on June 24, with the acquisition to proceed via “negotiated procurement” involving “inventory-based items.”
The new batch of Wildcats is expected to be deployed aboard the two Malvar-class frigates, also built by HD Hyundai, as well as two more frigates anticipated to be signed this year. According to the same DND report, the upcoming contract is worth P34 billion (approx USD 585 million), excluding ammunition and missiles, and is awaiting approval to follow a similar “inventory-based” procurement.
Currently, the Philippine Navy’s AW159s are armed with Compact FLASH dipping sonars by French firm Thales, Blue Shark lightweight torpedoes from South Korea’s LIG Nex1, and have been seen fitted with Spike NLOS missiles from Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. Thales previously announced during the 2024 Asian Defence and Security exhibition in Manila that it had established a locally operated maintenance center for the sonar systems and plans to build a training and certification center to support local capacity-building under the Philippines’ Self-Reliant Defense Posture (SRDP) initiative. The Philippines is set to become one of the largest FLASH sonar operator worldwide, after the U.S. Navy.
The Philippines has committed to allocate around ₱2 trillion (approx USD 35 billion) over the next decade to boost its military capabilities amid increasing tensions in the South China Sea.
© 2025, GDC. © GDC and www.globaldefensecorp.com. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to www.globaldefensecorp.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
