Being a non-signatory to the Washington Naval treaty, the country had no restrictions on the tonnage of ships it can construct.
The navy envisioned a state-of-the-art class of aircraft carriers that are designed to battle around the country's islands and in the waters around Palau. Be agile, swift, and be able to survive as much damage as possible and still be operational.
The carrier needs to be able carry as much aircraft as possible to go toe-to-toe with at least Japan's Akagi or Kaga aircraft carriers.
After 2 years of research, the navy came up with the Kalayaan class. Envisioned to be a 3-ship class, the Kalayaan, the Kagitingan, and the Katapangan.
Alongside this is an upgrade to the design of the Agila aircraft with the first design being scrapped for failing every test the military listed and for its inability to be operated on carriers.
The ship design called for the creation of an engine that will allow the ship to reach speeds of 30 knots, and a range of more than 18000km.
It prioritized hangar capacity to flight deck armor allowing it to theoretically carry 80 aircraft. Adding armor on the flight deck meant adding support structures below deck, meaning less space for aircraft in the hangar.
Also repair time and costs were factored in due to the limited resources and dockyards available in the country.
In addition, the navy envisioned that the carriers will be operating mostly inside the range of land-based aircraft save for transits between the main islands and Palau, which will keep the carriers safe from enemy air attacks, barring the worst-case scenario of the country falling to the enemy.
To compensate for its lack of armor, it had 10 triple 1-inch anti-aircraft guns and 20 .50 caliber machine guns.
For its construction, the military opted to contract an American shipyard located in Massachusetts. They did consider the Soviet Union as they also had a massive industry and resources as well as expertise building battleships, but they were not confident about their expertise with constructing carriers.
They may trust the Soviets more, but the military went with the more practical choice.
The Americans had already commissioned three aircraft carriers, the USS Saratoga being the latest one. As the military is eyeing a technology transfer agreement to allow carrier construction in the Philippines, they opted for a country that has prior experience building one.
The Europeans were also considered, especially the British, but lawmakers and some in the military trusted them less than the Americans.
Meanwhile back home, the government agreed to give grants and subsidies for the next 30 years to existing shipyards for their expansion, which includes construction of larger dry docks as well as a partnership with the government to construct a shipyard specifically for military purposes.
The government wants the new shipyard ready within 3-4 years to accommodate the new carrier they'll be ordering. They also required the private shipyards to prioritize construction of the rest of the Kalayaan class once the technology and expertise has been transferred over to them.
All of these deals are strictly confidential and, on a need-to-know basis. Any information leakage will be dealt by the government severely.
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The military is also working on another project, one much more secretive than the carrier project. Dubbed "Proyekto Alunsina".
As geopolitical tensions rose, the top brass of the military started exploring ways to have an early warning detection of incoming threats, especially since they now have expensive capital ships to protect.
The military had already known about the possible use of radio for detecting objects from a distance through research papers of Dr. Florencio Castillo, a professor at the Universidad de Santo Tomas.
Dr. Castillo along with Diego Solaiman and Rafael Catapang, regarded as the fathers of Philippine radio technology. Dr. Castillo, having gotten his doctorate in Physics from the University of Paris, had also studied on wireless telegraphy.
Diego Solaiman, a Master of Engineering, and Rafael Catapang, a Master of Physics both graduates from University of Cambridge.
In the early 1920s, Solaiman along with fellow engineer Andres Salazar had been doing extensive research on radio reflection as a way to detect ships at night building on existing publications on the topic.
As a maritime nation, they figured that the country needed a new way avoid ship collisions and make seafaring around the islands safer.
This research however stayed as pages in a book as they were affected by the economic crisis grappling the country. Although they did try to get government assistance, unfortunately the government couldn't spare any resources for unnecessary research at the time.
As the country's economy recovered in the early 1930s, and as Intenational events warranted greater focus on national defense, the military started scouting for engineers and physicists for the project. The first ones they considered were Dr. Castillo, Solaiman, and Catapang
The three and a few of their colleagues were scouted by the military to work on the project. They were promised a large budget and great flexibility in conducting their research. Dr. Castillo refused as he had other priorities, including being a professor at the university.
Solaiman, and Catapang on the other hand accepted the invitation as they had been pursuing radio detection research for quite some time and had expressed their intent to advance the research on its practical application.