Philippines To Focus On Other Priorities Before Buying Russian Submarine- Defense Official

The Philippines considered buying Russian submarines but delayed the acquisition process over its cost and the fact that the country had higher priorities, the undersecretary for finance and materiel at the Philippine Department of National Defense, Raymundo DV Elefante, told Sputnik on Tuesday

PATRIOT PARK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th June, 2019) The Philippines considered buying Russian submarines but delayed the acquisition process over its cost and the fact that the country had higher priorities, the undersecretary for finance and materiel at the Philippine Department of National Defense, Raymundo DV Elefante, told Sputnik on Tuesday.

Philippine Undersecretary of National Defense Cardozo M. Luna told Sputnik in April that the country was considering buying a small Russian submarine by 2027.

"We have looked before at submarines, because in the Philippines we have no submarine � to help us in defending our coastline.

But since it's very expensive, we have to take it one at a time. What is needed in our country is far more important," Elefante said on the sidelines of the ARMY-2019 International Military-Technical Forum currently held in Moscow region.

The forum started earlier in the day and will be held until June 30 at the Patriot Congress and Exhibition Center, located at the Kubinka air base just outside Moscow.

Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency is an official media partner of the forum.