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Philippine forces in need of a
facelift
MANILA - It is
ironic that the Philippines, which is facing a
two-pronged insurgency - the longest-running in
Asia - and lately the "war on terror", is the most
ill-equipped to handle such fighting, particularly
when looking its Air Force and Navy, whose assets
are mostly 50 years old.
After World War
II and until the late 1970s, the Philippine Air
Force (PAF) and the Philippine Navy were second to
none in Southeast Asia in terms of modern jet
fighters and warships, respectively. When
neighboring armed forces started to build their
firepower, however, the Philippines - which is
facing a serious communist insurgency, a Muslim
rebellion and an extremist terrorist threat in the
south - was left behind, with dilapidated planes,
helicopters and naval ships in its arsenal today.
In 1973, when the Moro National Liberation
Front (MNLF) went to war against the government,
the PAF had 140 UH1-H (Huey) helicopters, 25 F5A/B
jet fighters, 30 Sabre jets, 12 C-130 Hercules
planes, eight C-123 cargo aircraft, and at least
two dozen other small airplanes. Six years later,
the Air Force acquired 35 F8 Crusader jet fighter
interceptors from the United States, 25 MG520
helicopter gun ships and 28 S211 trainer jets,
making the PAF one of the most powerful air forces
in Southeast Asia.
But the present state
of the PAF is in want of both new planes and
helicopters. The Air Force has no fighter jet to
speak of since all its F-5s have been grounded due
to old age, and it has only 50 UH1-H helicopters,
even after the Philippine government bought 20
choppers from Singapore. At the turn of the new
millennium, the PAF had only 20-28 old Huey
helicopters - a far cry from the 140 choppers the
country claimed when the war against the communist
insurgency and the MNLF broke out more than 30
years ago.
The Armed Forces of the
Philippines, through the Department of National
Defense, has been asking Congress to set aside
funds for the purchase of new aircraft,
particularly helicopters, but until now, no money
has been made available.
The helicopter is
the most suitable aircraft in combating
insurgency, considering its maneuverability in
transporting troops to the jungles and its ability
to provide close air support, according to
Lieutenant General Jose Reyes, chief of the PAF.
But with the present financial crisis hounding the
government, the refurbished Huey helicopters
Manila purchased from Singapore last year were all
it could afford to provide the PAF.
Air
Force spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Restituto
Padilla Jr said another 20 to 30 Huey choppers
will be arriving soon to boost PAF's helicopter
fleet to 70 or 80. There are also several grounded
UH1-H helicopters that can be repaired by PAF
mechanics and technicians, Padilla noted, the Air
Force is just waiting for funds to be released, he
said.
The Philippine Navy (PN), on the
other hand, needs entirely new ships to replace
its aging war vessels, some of which are old as
the Navy's oldest naval officer. The PN is
probably the only navy in Asia, or the world for
that matter, that is maintaining World War II
vintage ships that are 60 or 65 years old.
These ships were supposed to go to the
scraps a long time ago, but the Navy was forced to
rehabilitate old ships to guard the Philippines'
coastal waters, which are as twice as long as
those in the United States. In addition, the
Philippine Navy also has to guard the Kalayaan
Group of Islands in the contested Spratly Island
chain in the South China Sea, which is abundant
with marine products and, reportedly, oil
deposits.
In 1990, the Navy invited
defense reporters to ride on board the BRP-70, a
former US patrol ship built in 1942. The trip from
naval headquarters on Roxas Boulevard to the
Cavite shipyard only takes some 20 minutes by Navy
gunboat. But the BRP-70 was so slow it took five
hours to navigate the short sea distance.
Naval Commander Reuben Lista, who was the
PN's information officer at the time, said that
was precisely the reason he had invited reporters
to ride the slow-moving ship - to show the Navy's
predicament.
To effectively defend the
country's vast territorial sea waters and an
equally wide air space, the Philippines needs to
modernize its Air Force and Navy now, not later,
officials have stressed.
(Asia Pulse/PNA) |
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