BRP Antonio Luna suffers ‘superficial damage’ during joint drill with Malaysia - navy

Manila, Philippines – The Philippine Navy’s four-and-a-half year old primary warship, BRP Antonio Luna, had minor damage to its freeboard while in a joint naval drill with the Royal Malaysian Navy in the coastal town Lumut.

It happened during simulated wargaming that involved gunnery and maneuvering drills in what was dubbed as MALPHI LAUT 2025 in Perak state in Malaysia.

Captain Marissa Arlene Martinez, navy spokesperson, said the damage was on the port side - or the part of the ship that runs from the waterline up to the upper main deck.

“When she was carefully maneuvering in a narrow space, and I would like to highlight a narrow space… it incurred superficial damage to its freeboard. When I say superficial damage, I mean to say it’s [on the] outermost portion of the surface of the freeboard,” she said in a weekly briefing in Camp Aguinaldo.

The Hyundai Heavy Industries-built BRP Antonio Luna has joined a number of maritime patrols in the West Philippine Sea and drills with foreign navies since it was commissioned in 2021.

It is the second ship of the Jose Rizal class of guided missile frigates in service with the navy, capable of anti-surface, anti-submarine and anti-air warfare with weapon systems ranging from missiles, torpedoes, rapid-fire autocannon and heavy machine guns.

“I would just like to highlight that the ship was mission-capable and was able to participate in at-sea events,” Martinez said.

The warship is en route to the Philippines, where it will be subjected to inspection and assessment, she added.