[11] Early in 2011, the Philippine Navy announced the acquisition of an ex-US Coast Guard Hamilton-class high-endurance cutter under the "Ocean-going Escort Vessel" project through the US Excess Defense Article programme.

[12][13] The ship acquired was the former USCGC Hamilton (WHEC-715),[14] renamed BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PF-15) which was officially turned over to the Philippine Navy on 13 May 2011 at Alameda Point in California.

[16] A second Hamilton-class cutter, the USCGC Dallas (WHEC-716), was turned over to the Philippine Navy on 22 May 2012[17] with ceremonies held at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Pier Papa in North Charleston, South Carolina.

[29] The Del Pilar class are the first Philippine military vessels to employ the now common shipboard application of aircraft gas turbine jet engines with the use of controllable pitch propellers.

The class are equipped with two 18,000 horsepower (13,000 kW) Pratt & Whitney[2] gas turbines and can propel the ship at speeds up to 29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph).

The class also has two 3,500 horsepower (2,600 kW) Fairbanks-Morse[2] diesel engines, capable of driving the ship economically at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) for up to 12,500 nmi (23,200 km; 14,400 mi) without refueling.

[11][40] The project contract also covers system integration of Hanwha-supplied equipment with Government-supplied equipment (through US Foreign Military Sales (FMS) and Foreign Military Financing (FMF) ), which includes the AN/SPS-77 Sea Giraffe AMB 3D air/surface search radar,[41] a new Identification Friend or Foe (IFF), the SeaFLIR 230 electro-optical/infra-red (EO/IR) system, and two (2) Mk 38 25mm guns.

[11] On 21 February 2020, Rear Adm. Giovanni Carlo Bacordo stated that additional weapons systems were planned to be installed to complement the ships' upgraded sensors.

[42] On 14 October 2020, Navy chief Giovanni Carlo Bacordo revealed the completion of the 3D modeling program for the class' cabling systems to be used for their electronic upgrades (CMS + 4 sensors), indicating the project is at least running despite the CoVid-19 pandemic.