PHL gets initial 77 APCs from US

The initial batch of 77 M113A2 armed personnel carrier (APC) units from the United States to the Armed Forces of the Philippines have arrived.

In a statement issued Thursday, the US Embassy said the APCs arrived Wednesday evening in Subic Bay in Zambales.

The embassy said the APCs were transferred under the Excess Defense Article Program, which "grants excess US military equipment from the US, without cost, to qualified allied countries.”

It added that the transfer was a result from the formal request made by the AFP in line with increasing their defense modernization efforts.

“These additional assets will help strengthen our Mechanized Division and enhance our Army's armor capability. This will in turn translate to greater mobility and increased protection for our operating troops,” military spokesman Col. Restituto Padilla Jr. told GMA News Online.

A second shipment of 37 APC units are expected to arrive on December 14.

The M113 was developed to provide a surviva ble and reliable light tracked vehicle that allows for troops to be brought forward under armor for dismounted operations.

Last week, the USS Tucson arrived at Subic Bay in Zambales for a visit as part of its Indo-Asia-Pacific deployment.

The Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine with 150 crew members will conduct missions to showcase the US submarine fleet's capabilities.

The USS Tucson's arrival in the country shows the US rebalancing of naval forces to Asia to protect the freedom of navigation amid China's increasingly aggressive reclamation of disputed areas in the South China Sea. — Andrei Medina/RSJ, GMA News