SOUTH Korea is consolidating its role as a major defense supplier to the Philippines, with contracts covering fighter aircraft, frigates, corvettes and offshore patrol vessels under the Armed Forces of the Philippines' (AFP) modernization program.
The growing portfolio raises the question of whether Seoul is becoming the Philippines’ principal defense acquisition partner under the modernization program and its Re-Horizon 3 phase.
Available data, however, do not yet establish that South Korea has the highest number of Philippine defense contracts.
The evidence is strongest in naval acquisitions and combat aircraft, while a broader comparison of all defense contracts would be needed to establish whether South Korea is the country’s principal supplier.
South Korea accounted for 43 percent of the Philippines’ major arms deliveries from 2016 to 2025, ahead of Israel and the United States, which each accounted for 16 percent, according to data drawn from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri).South Korea supplied 77 percent of the ships delivered to the Philippines during the period. The figures measure the volume of major arms transfers using Sipri’s trend-indicator value, not contract prices or the number of contracts.
The country’s growing role is reflected in a series of major acquisitions from South Korean defense companies.
The Philippine Air Force first acquired 12 FA-50 light combat aircraft from Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) under a 2014 contract.
In June 2025, the Department of National Defense signed a second contract with KAI for 12 aircraft, worth about $700 million, bringing the total number ordered under the two agreements to 24.
The Philippine Navy has also become a major customer of South Korean shipbuilder HD Hyundai Heavy Industries.
The company delivered two Jose Rizal-class frigates in 2020 and 2021, followed by two Miguel Malvar-class frigates, which entered service in 2025.
In December 2025, the DND signed another contract with the shipbuilder for two 3,200-ton frigates under the Navy’s Frigate Second Acquisition Program, a Re-Horizon 3 project. The vessels are scheduled for delivery by 2029.
HD Hyundai is also building six offshore patrol vessels for the Navy under a contract awarded in 2022 worth about $573.8 million. The company has separately delivered two corvettes to the Philippine fleet.
The scale of the relationship was laid out by South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) during the 27th Philippines-South Korea Joint Committee on Defense Industry and Logistics Cooperation in Manila on June 23, 2026.
DAPA said the Philippines had acquired two batches of FA-50 aircraft, four frigates, two corvettes and six offshore patrol vessels from South Korea.
The agency also said the two countries discussed maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), training, logistics support and cooperation between their naval procurement offices. Nine South Korean defense companies attended the meeting.
The cooperation is also expanding beyond the purchase of weapons. During President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s state visit to South Korea in March 2026, the two governments signed an amendment to their implementing arrangement on the procurement of certain defense materials.
The amendment provides for expanded cooperation, including maintenance support, according to DAPA.
But South Korea is not the Philippines’ only major defense supplier. Israel and the US remain significant sources of equipment, with different areas of specialization.
Sipri-based figures for 2016 to 2025 show Israel and the United States each accounting for 16 percent of major arms deliveries, compared with South Korea’s 43 percent.
Israel was the leading supplier of air-defense systems and sensors in the same dataset, while the United States accounted for the largest share of aircraft deliveries.
The distinction matters because the share of arms delivered does not establish which country has won the most individual contracts, nor does it capture every procurement project, including equipment, services and support arrangements that may not fall under Sipri’s major-arms categories.
For the Philippines, the growing Korean portfolio points to a defense relationship that now extends from aircraft and warships to sustainment and logistics.
