: These ships were meant to provide a "stop-gap" capability to address growing territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
: Military leaders eventually decided that used 20-year-old ships would have maintenance costs that were too high. Instead, they opted to pursue a competitive bidding process for brand-new frigates . philippines buying maestrale frigates
In 2012–2013, the Philippine Department of National Defense (DND) explored acquiring two retired Maestrale -class frigates from the Italian Navy for roughly $270 million. : These ships were meant to provide a