CDR Salamander - Back to Subic Bay...with Friends?

Here’s Subic Bay back in its US Navy heyday.

Here she is today.

That isn’t the real change. Look at what is happening on the western side of the bay.

19 years ago in 2006, just some undeveloped bayside.

Today?

Why is it important?

Subic Bay, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) northwest of Manila, sits within striking distance of China.

It is roughly 1,100 kilometers (684 miles) from Shenzhen and Taipei, 1,800 kilometers (1,120 miles) from Shanghai, and 2,800 kilometers (1,740 miles) from Beijing, putting it well within the range of China’s intermediate-range ballistic missiles.

…and the world is a very different place than it was in the Duterte era.

Big things are happening.

The United States is moving forward with plans to establish what could become the world’s largest weapons manufacturing hub in the Philippines’ Subic Bay, once home to the biggest US naval base in Asia, to counter China’s expanding military presence in the region.

The plans got a real push when Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. inaugurated HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Philippines’ new shipyard at the former Hanjin complex, now renamed Agila Subic by American investment firm Cerberus Capital Management.

The move signals a shift from rotational training to a permanent US military presence in the Philippines.

Backed by US and South Korean investment, the facility is expected to double the Philippines’ shipbuilding capacity to 2.5 million deadweight tons annually and employ more than 4,000 workers by 2030.

While Monday’s ceremony highlighted commercial shipping, officials noted the yard could also affect the country’s naval modernization.

HD Hyundai has already supplied the Philippine Navy with frigates and offshore patrol vessels and is positioning Subic as a regional hub for warship production.

South Korea’s ambassador to Manila described the shipyard as a “tripartite partnership” of Korean technology, US financing, and Philippine labor and geography.

“This represents the most significant US defense investment in the Philippines since the Cold War,” the US Naval Research Laboratory said in a report.

Yes, there is good news happening in WESTPAC, and this is in the top 5.

More. Better. Faster.

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