Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff, Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., on Tuesday said the military organization needs to acquire modern defense equipment and weapons so it can better protect and defend the country against external threats.

Aside from modern weapons, Brawner cited the need to equip soldiers with the resources and skills to prepare them for any challenges in fighting and neutralizing threats.

Brawner said the AFP also envisions the creation of "citizen warriors" or recruiting more reservists that can be readily tapped during emergencies.

Asked if the AFP is ready to meet any external aggression, Brawner said: "When it comes to Filipinos' fighting spirit, we are number one because, for the longest time, we have been fighting for years, so we are one of the most capable fighters in the world so we just need modern equipment, modern weapons and that's what we are doing in our modernization effort."

Brawner said an allocation of huge funds is needed to acquire more modern defense equipment and weapons.

He said the AFP is targeting to acquire "multi-role fighter aircraft, naval assets, command and control or C-2 systems, shore-based deterrent capabilities, submarines and the like" under the third Horizon of the AFP modernization program.

Five-year program

The Horizon 3 is slated for 2023 up to 2028.

Horizon 2 was undertaken from 2018 to 2022, and Horizon 1 was pushed from 2013 to 2017.

Brawner said such procurement tranches are designed to acquire equipment, weapons systems, and platforms to enhance the military organization's external or territorial defense capability.