A Better Philippine Army and Marine Corps in the Cold War to Present

The Chinese sent Norinco copies of the M4 in the summer of 2017 while Russia sent those AKMs in October 2017 just in the closing days of the Battle of Marawi. It was alleged that a Chinese sniper used by a Scout Sniper killed one of the leaders of the Maute Group.



Photo: Scout Rangers with the AKM, January 2, 2018.


Link - Scout Rangers with donated AKMs, June 8, 2019.

There was a test by a Philippine Marine colonel of the donated Chinese Dragunov rifle where the rifle unfortunately broke apart. That video was trending on Facebook and was a source of laughs for thousands of netizens.

The PNP is the one that uses new toys from Israel such as the MZ-4 Emtan, Galil ACE, and IMI Negev.



PNP Vlog Basic Gears of PNP personnel

The Scout Rangers use the F-88 variant of the Steyr AUG A1. I think if ever Tavors would be used, it would be for Special Forces. For one I know, PDEA and PNP Maritime Group use the CTAR-21.

You can see a Scout Ranger with an AUG at the end of this video from the 2000 conflict against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Armed Forces of the Philippines All Out War Against MILF



Photo: Philippine Army Scout Rangers with the F-88.


Photo: PNP Maritime Group operatives with TAR-21 bullpup rifles. Source: Reddit.

The Chinese want to appear as if they are friendly to the countries near them in their fight against terrorism when it is obvious this is part of a geopolitical strategy to have Southeast Asia under their thumb.

Found some alternative scale model vehicles for the PA and PMC

Chinese Type 59 tank with British 105 mm gun in the Philippine Army. (Source: Cordoba Roberto Angelo).


The MX-8 is a locally build armored escort vehicle by Steelcraft for the Philippine Army. The prototype project started in 2005 but only few being build. The RCWS mounting is just a wishful thought, "a what if". (Source: Ariel Jerome Astido)


Philippine Army T-90. (Source: Cordoba Roberto Angelo)

I cannot find any good wiki source for the MX-8, but I think that if the Philippine Army had to design its own tank instead of relying on imports, they could have taken the Chinese Type 59 with the British 105mm gun and experimented with it, going the Merkava route. The Marine Corps could have built a hybrid of the M551 Sheridan with the PT-76 as well.

You know, it might be a good thing that Israel is an expert on the Frankensteinization of its military vehicles. At least they were a bit creative. Perhaps in the future we could also see an amphibious version of the Merkava tank deployed by Israel, or that other Israeli tank that the Philippine Army is interested in.