Philippine air superiority

July 7, 2018 Opinion Sideglance

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte recently announced, during the founding anniversary Tuesday of the PAF at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City, the ambitious plan of the government to finally upgrade and modernize the Philippine Air Force under the Second Horizon of the Revised AFP Modernization Program by 2022 by earmarking over 139 billion pesos for the undertaking.

This is a welcome development considering the expansionist ambitions of China in the South China Sea in particular and in Asia in general and a military development that would surely transform the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) into a lean and mean military machine.

Finally, we may yet see the AFP becoming into a state of the art war machine capable of not only competent defense of the country but also able to mount a capable offense in case military reprisals are needed.

This is not to say that the PAF modernization plan will be a walk in the park. First the amount earmarked is not really substantial to allow the purchase of high end and high tech military air assets.

For example a F16 multirole and air superiority fighter jet that is currently being used by the United States Air Force and manufactured by General Dynamics Lockheed Martin will cost around 14 million dollars or roughly 747 million in our currency. Of course the government can always buy second hand fighter jets just to become comfortable and familiar with the type of warplanes but given our experience with second hand helicopters, even those donated by the US, it would seem that the PAF is not yet ready to absorbed in its war assets modern jet fighters such as the F 16s.

On the other hand the more than 136 billion pesos can go a long way in acquisitioning several high tech gadgets such as early warning radars and helicopters that can land on the sea as defensive air assets that would contribute to the over-all readiness of the PAF. The AFP can also start purchasing even just three multi-role fighter jets that might cost less than the standard F16 but nevertheless more than capable to defend the country’s airspace when needed. They should also be equipped with enough missiles and bombs that their presence in the sky will more or less establish a modern but rudimentary air superiority. The national government in fact should try to come up with a program for the modernization of the PAF that would allow for the purchase of one or two fighter jets every year until a couple of squadrons of jet fighters can be formed to patrol the skies.

The more than 136 billion pesos could also be utilized to acquire drone technology and the purchase of several so called predator drones that are armed with bombs and missiles.

There are lot of air assets that can be bought by the earmarked amount but one thing is clear it is now time to fully upgrade our PAF in order to better protect our skies and to assert our sovereignty over our territory.