Air power is vital to national interest(First of a two-part Special Report)

From the Philippine News Agency (May 25): Air power is vital to national interest(First of a two-part Special Report)

Time was when the Philippine Air Force (PAF) was the cutting edge as the country’s first line of defense -- second to none in air superiority in Asia, except Japan.

That time capsule when the PAF was at its peak was from 1950 to early 1970s, when the Air Force had a strong air defense system complete with air defense alert centers in Basa Air Base in Pampanga and Palawan guarding the Western Philippine Sea.

During those golden years of the Air Force, an array of sophisticated jet fighter interceptors were standing-by on alert, day and night, all-year-round, ready to take-off at any moment’s notice to intercept and challenge any foreign aircraft or ship picked up by radar intruding into Philippine airspace or territorial waters.

The PAF jet fighters were armed to the teeth with air-to-air and air-to-ground guided missiles, .20mm cannons and .50 caliber machine guns and capable of scrambling into the air in a matter of minutes.

Regrettably, however, through the years, the once formidable PAF had weakened until without a single jet fighter remaining in its arsenal to challenge unauthorized planes entering the country’s sky.

The sorry state of the Air Force can be traced to the procrastination by the government to modernize the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to keep in pace with time while other military forces in neighboring countries have long modernized their defense capability.

The PAF was left behind. Its vaunted air power superiority was gone.

There has been a joke going around that the “Philippine Air Force is all air but no force.” It is hurting to hear but as the saying goes, truth hurts.

Today, veteran PAF fighter pilots just could reminisce the days of old when they proudly flew the supersonic jets to intercept intruding planes or during acrobatic maneuvers by the famed Blue Diamonds.

A strong Air Force is an instrument of national power.

During those golden years, PAF jet fighter pilots participated and won air-to-ground gunnery competitions against United States pilots in many occasions.

PAF records show that the Philippines sent an expeditionary squadron of F-86 Sabre jets to Congo, Africa many years ago because PAF was practically number one in Asia in terms of air power.

Today, while the Air Force acquired recently eight brand-new helicopters from Poland and there is a pending order of a squadron of F-50 jet fighter-trainers from South Korea, the delivery of which will be in the next three years, it is still lacking the firepower of a real to goodness jet fighters such as the F-16 from the U.S., the Grippen from Sweden and similar aircraft to guard the country’s airspace and territorial waters. (To be concluded)

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=10&sid=&nid=10&rid=646915