The Philippine government, through the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), has completed work on a new type of remotely operated weapons station for use by the Philippine Navy.
The weapons station was developed as part of the project titled Building a Universal Mount for Heavy-Barrel Automated Weapon Integration (BUHAWI; "Tornado"). The project seeks to introduce an automated mount compatible for use with the M2 Browning 12.7-millimetre machine guns fitted on the navy's littoral patrol vessels.
The project covers the design and fabrication of the gun mount as well as the design and development of the control system and integration of associated mechanical and control systems.
The development period included a trial installation on the patrol craft BRP Heracleo Alano. A series of sea trials were then conducted over a span of two months, and tests also covered nighttime operations and operations under Sea State Three conditions.