Philippines to hold pre-negotiations with Korea to buy fighter jets

The Philippines will hold “pre-negotiations” with South Korean firm Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) to buy supersonic fighter jets for the Air Force, a defense official said Wednesday.

The Government Procurement Policy Board approved the talks for FA-50 jets from KAI last December, defense assistant secretary for acquisition, installations, and logistics Patrick Velez said in a press briefing.

“We are going to proceed with the pre-negotiation with them… if everything pushes through in the timeframe, we may be able to finish the contract by the end of February,” Velez said.

Some P18 billion will be spent to buy 12 fighter jets, two of which may arrive after six months, Velez told reporters.

The purchase will be done through a government-to-government deal, he said.

The Air Force currently has no fighter jets since it retired its last seven F5 fighters in 2005, after being in service for 40 years.

The only jets in the PAF inventory are S-211 trainer jets, which are also being used for reconnaissance missions.

S-211 trainer jets are sub-sonic. KAI’s FA-50 fighter jets fly as fast as MACH 1.5. (John Roson)

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Philippines to hold bidding for Navy warships

The Philippines will acquire frigates for the Navy through bidding instead of a government-to-government deal, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said Wednesday.

“Io-open bidding ‘yan, magkakaroon ng kompitensya para malaman kung maganda ang presyo na io-offer nila,” Gazmin said in a press briefing.

Senior defense officials decided to hold a bidding so they can choose from offers by several countries, defense assistant secretary for acquisition, installations and logistics Patrick Velez said.

“Definitely the procurement should be done within the first quarter,” Velez added.

Gazmin announced in August that the Philippines will acquire two “Maestrale” frigates that Italy is offering, through a government-to-government deal.

Earlier this month, undersecretary for finance, munitions, installations and materiel Fernando Manalo said at least five other countries, including South Korea, Spain, the US, Israel, and Croatia, had also offered frigates after Israel. (John Roson)

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Navy to retire old ships, new chief says

New Navy chief Vice Adm. Jose Luis Alano vowed to retire the force’s old ships and push for the acquisition of new ones to protect the country’s waters.

In a speech after being formally installed Wednesday, Alano said the Navy’s “antiquated” ships are more burdens than assets to the force.

“We will rationalize current operational assets, review the modernization program, taking a deliberate look at the phase-in and phase-out scheme, removing the excess baggage of old and antiquated ships and equipment that continue to be heavy burdens on our logistic system,” Alano said.

Alano, who once served as chief of the Navy Fleet, said he will recommend types of equipment that will make the force “relevant” in defending the country’s territory.

“I come at an opportune time, when we are fleeting up with new capabilities like WHECs (weather high endurance cutters), frigates, naval helicopters, MPACs (multi-purpose attack crafts), AAVs (amphibious assault vehicles), as well as individual Marine and special warfare combat equipment,” he said.

Alano, who is set to retire on May 1, 2004, also vowed to continue reviewing the country’s “active archipelagic defense” strategy with an eye at achieving the Fleet’s “desired force mix.”

The Fleet’s “desired force mix” includes six frigates for anti-air warfare, 12 corvettes for anti-submarine warfare, 18 offshore patrol vessels, three submarines, three anti-mine vessels, four sealift vessels, 18 landing craft utility vessels, three logistics ships, 12 coastal interdiction patrol boats, 30 patrol gunboats, and 42 multi-purpose assault crafts that can be equipped with torpedoes and missiles, according to an article in the April edition of the Fleet’s official magazine, Phil Fleet.

The government may need to spend about P497 billion for such equipment, according to the article. (John Roson)

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Air Force gets 2 new choppers

Two brand new Sokol helicopters have been delivered to the Air Force, raising the number of such helicopters in the military inventory to six.

The two helicopters were airlifted from Poland and arrived at the Clark Air Base in Pampanga on Monday, Air Force spokesman Col. Miguel Ernesto Okol said in a statement Friday.

The helicopters will be turned over to the 505th Search and Rescue Group after undergoing assembly and final checks by the 410th Maintenance Wing, Okol said.

The helicopters, made by Polish firm PZL-Świdnik, are part of the eight that the government bought for P2.5 billion two years ago.

The first batch of four helicopters were delivered last February and the remaining two are expected to be delivered early next year, Okol said. (John Roson)

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Philippines eyes Italian warships, Korean jets

A Maestrale-class frigate (photo grabbed from Marina Militare [Italian Navy] website http://www.marina.difesa.it)

The Philippines is looking at buying frigates from Italy, jet fighters from South Korea, and attack helicopters from Eurocopter, defense officials said today.

Two Maestrale-class frigates used by the Italian Navy have been proposed for acquisition to President Benigno Aquino, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said in a press forum.

The two ships, which cost a total of P11.7 billion, will come armed with anti-air, anti-submarine, and surface-to-surface missiles, Gazmin said.

“They will be our most potent naval assets. They will help a lot in giving us a good defense posture,” he said, adding the ships may be delivered by November next year if the project is approved soon.

T-50 jets conducting maneuvers (photo grabbed from Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd. website: http://www.koreaaero.com)

The department has also proposed to the President to consider acquiring 12 T-50 lead-in fighter jets from South Korea, Fernando Manalo, defense undersecretary for finance, munitions, installations and materiel, said in the same press forum.

“The T-50 is the most advantageous considering the situation in the West Philippine Sea,” he said.

Once the project is completed, the country will immediately get two jets to train pilots, Gazmin said.

Meanwhile, Manalo said negotiation is ongoing to acquire 10 attack helicopters worth P3.2 billion from Eurocopter in France.

Two to four of these helicopters can be delivered within the year if the contract is signed before the end of the month, he said. (John Roson)

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Philippines hurries military upgrade as sea tensions continue

Lipa City, Batangas – Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin vowed to give the military a boost within the next two years, citing an “extreme necessity” in upgrading its defense capability, amid a territorial dispute with China.

Speaking at the Air Force’s 65th anniversary rites in Fernando Air Base here Friday, Gazmin said his office is “speedily” working on the approval of contracts for 138 modernization projects for the military.

The projects, which the defense department aims to approve by July 31, will be implemented over the next five years and includes big-ticket items for Navy and Air Force.

“These include among others the acquisition of surface attack lead-in fighter trainers, attack helicopters, light transport aircraft, and medium transport aircraft, all of which are expected to be delivered within two years from now,” Gazmin said.

The Philippines is presently fighting for ownership of the Scarborough Shoal and several territories in the Spratly Island Group, all of which China claims as its territories.

Armed only with turbo-prop planes, helicopters, and a handful of aging warships, Manila has been resorting to filing diplomatic protests against Beijing.

The latest protest was prompted by the China’s formation of a city that encompasses almost all of the South China Sea, including a Spratly island where a Philippine town has dozens of residents and a municipal hall.

In Scarborough Shoal, at least three armed Chinese law enforcement ships were spotted Monday along with six fishing vessels and 16 dinghies, said a security official who requested anonymity.

“Our extreme necessity to modernize is meant to address the primordial constitutional duty of our Armed Forces, to secure the sovereignty of the state and the integrity of the national territory,” Gazmin said.

“We are now very determined in our intention to modernize,” the defense chief said.

“The availability of these aircraft will erase, once and for all, the ironic and naughty commentary that our present air force is ‘all air, devoid of force,’” he added.

At the anniversary ceremony, more than 40 airplanes and helicopters conducted a flyby and some stunts “to set things right for the organization,” Air Force chief Lt. Gen. Lauro Catalino dela Cruz said.

It has been 15 years since the force last staged such activities for its birthday, due budget cuts which eventually led to a lack of equipment. Fighter jets were retired in 2005.

The lack of fighter planes had also prompted the Air Force to send some of its units to land operations such as fighting communist rebels.

“To set things right, we need to show that we are not expanding to become a ground force,” Dela Cruz said. (John Roson)

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Foreign poachers going as far as Romblon – AFP

Camp Guillermo Nakar, Lucena City – Foreign poachers sometimes go deep inside Philippine territory to catch fish and other wildlife in an area known for marine biodiversity, a military official revealed.

Lieutenant Gen. Roland Detabali, head of the Armed Forces’ Southern Luzon Command (Solcom), said there have been instances when poachers were monitored going as far as Romblon.

“Minsan may poachers, naka-base sa Palawan ang mother boat then papasok gamit ang maliliit na boat sa Romblon,” Detabali told reporters in a briefing at the Solcom headquarters here.

Authorities in the area, however, cannot catch the poachers because of “limited naval assets,” he said.

“Tatakbo na lang sila (poachers), di na mahahabol, sayang ang natural resources,” Detabali said.

It was the first time for the military to reveal that foreign poachers venture deep inside the Philippines’ territorial waters.

Previously, foreign poachers were sighted and sometimes, captured, only in waters off Palawan and Mindanao where there are disputed territories and international boundaries.

The Philippines is presently battling – diplomatically – with China over ownership of Scarborough Shoal near Zambales after a Navy ship tried to arrest Chinese poachers there last April.

Romblon, along with Cavite, Batangas, Marinduque, and Oriental Mindoro, form the boundaries of the Verde Island Passage, which scientists regard as the “center of the center” of marine biodiversity in the world.

The title was given after a 2005 study showed that Verde Island Passage is home to more than 300 species of corals, hundreds of species of fish, and several species of turtles, dolphins, giant clams, and whale sharks.

Detabali said the military is now coordinating with local government units and non-government organizations to protect the area. (John Roson)

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Philippines approves fighter jet acquisition

The Philippines has approved plans to buy fighter jets and other military aircraft and may sign contracts for the projects this year, Air Force spokesman Col. Miguel Ernesto Okol said.

Senior officials of the Department of National Defense approved plans for the Air Force to buy 12 units, or a squadron, of lead-in fighter trainer jets, eight light transport planes, three medium transport planes, and attack helicopters, Okol said in a phone interview.

“They have been approved by the senior leadership and we expect their contracts to be signed within the year. It will take about two years for that to be delivered,” he said.

Last Tuesday, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said Philippines is looking at several countries, including South Korea, France, and Italy for its fighter jet acquisition.

The Air Force retired its last seven F5 fighter jets in 2005, after being in service for 40 years.

Meanwhile, Okol said the Air Force expects two C-130 carrier planes and four Sokol combat utility helicopters to be delivered to in the coming months.

One C-130 plane will arrive in the first week of June after having undergone depot maintenance in the US while the other, which was repaired locally, may be released in November, he said.

The four Sokol helicopters, expected to arrive also in November, are among the eight which the Philippines bought from Italian-Polish firm Augusta PZL Swidnik for P2.8 billion. The other four were turned over to the Air Force last March. (John Roson)

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Philippines needs P497 billion to build Navy, official says

The government may need to spend about P497 billion to build a “strong and credible” Navy that has equipment like frigates, corvettes, and submarines, a Navy official said.

The Navy Fleet’s “desired” force mix includes six frigates for anti-air warfare, 12 corvettes for anti-submarine warfare, 18 offshore patrol vessels, three submarines, three anti-mine vessels, four sealift vessels, 18 landing craft utility vessels, three logistics ships, 12 coastal interdiction patrol boats, 30 patrol gunboats, and 42 multi-purpose assault crafts that can be equipped with torpedoes and missiles, Lieutenant Commander Nerelito Martinez, the Fleet’s acting chief of staff for plans and program, said.

Also included in the envisioned force mix are eight amphibious maritime patrol aircraft, 18 naval helicopters, and eight multi-purpose helicopters, Martinez said in an article in the April edition of the Fleet’s official magazine, Phil Fleet.

All the equipment included in the force mix is estimated to cost the government about P497 billion, he said.

“It may be costly at our current standards but it is not unrealistic,” Martinez said.

The national budget for this year is P1.816 trillion, of which the entire Armed Forces was given P89.769 billion.

The force mix, which the Fleet came up with during a strategic workshop last year, “shall be the basis of the Philippine Fleet in its force structure and capability development plans,” Martinez said.

“The Fleet shall refer to this force mix whenever new equipment acquisition, in any form, is proposed,” he said.

“Looking at the Philippine Navy inventory of mission essential equipment, it is very discernible that majority of our assets and vessels were acquired not necessarily because they fit into our strategy or operational requirement but because they are available as grant from the US or from our allies,” Martinez added. (John Roson)

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Philippines to get 6 fighter jets, radar by 2016

The Philippines expects to get six fighter jets and an air defense radar by 2016 to enhance its territorial defense capability, a military spokesman said.

Six jets will serve as surface attack aircraft and lead-in fighter trainers, Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Miguel Ernesto Okol said.

Aside from the jets and radar, the Air Force also expects to get a “special mission aircraft” and “light lift aircraft” by 2016, he said.

“It (special mission aircraft) is a multi-purpose aircraft that we can also use for maritime security as well as protecting our environment,” Okol said in a text message.

The light lift aircraft will replace the ageing Nomad and Fokker planes which the force currently uses, he said.

“Hopefully we will see initial deliveries by 2013 to 2014 or at the most, 2015,” he told reporters.

Okol could not say how much the government will spend for buying the new equipment but said these are now all part of the defense acquisition system being discussed in meetings by top officials of the Department of National Defense and Armed Forces. (John Roson)

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