Philippine military to acquire drones

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of National Defense (DND) will acquire drones and other surveillance equipment to boost the Marines' security and search and rescue operations.

The items form part of the Marine Forces Imagery and Targeting Support System Acquisition Project worth P684-million, a bid bulletin released by the agency showed.

The project involves the acquisition of six sets of drones or small unmanned aerial vehicle sub-system, nine sets of target acquisition device sub-systems, 12 kits of tactical sensor integration sub-systems and an integrated logistics support package.

The equipment will be used by the three Marine brigades in Sulu, Central Mindanao and Palawan.

Navy spokesman Lieutenant Commander Gregory Fabic said drones can be used for surveillance and for search and rescue efforts.

“It will serve as our eye in the sky without the risk of personnel casualty,” Fabic said in Filipino.

“Since a drone has a camera, the area to be covered by reconnaissance operations will be wider. It can also help us detect missing persons,” he added.

The DND is now inviting companies to bid for the project. The equipment will be acquired through competitive bidding in line with the implementing rules of the procurement law.

Bidders should have completed within five years from the date of the submission of bids a contract similar to the project. The deadline for the submission of bids is on January 6.

The goods to be offered should have been used by military forces of the countries of origin of the suppliers or by the armed forces of at least two other countries.

Late bids as well as those that exceed the approved budget of P684-million will be rejected.

Interested parties may buy bid documents from the Bids and Awards Committee Secretariat for P75,000. They may also be downloaded from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System but the bidder will have to pay for them before the submission of bids.