Although its purpose is to ensure mutual support among friendly aircraft, close formation flying is also done to deceive enemy radars, Philippine Air Force (PAF) spokesperson Lt. Col. Enrico Canaya said.
"Close formation is used to deceive (enemy) radars (friendly planes will fly so close to appear as) one big aircraft if detected," he added.
By this method, two to six planes can appear as one aircraft in enemy radar scopes, thus deceiving the latter about the exact size of the formation.
Canaya earlier said that upon arrival of the 12 South Korean F/A-50 "Fighting Eagle" jet aircraft, whose contract was signed last March 28, the aircraft will be deployed in pairs while on operational missions.
"We always fly in formation during operational missions. This is ensure mutual protection. Single aircraft (are) allowed (to fly) during training and administration flights where (no) threat is expected," he stressed.
Canaya was referring to the formation where the first aircraft is designated the "lead" and the second one as the "wingman".
Under this setup, the "wingman" is responsible for protecting his leader's tail (six o'clock position in fighter parlance) against possible threats, giving the lead plane a chance to conduct its own attack.
Canaya also said that the F/A-50 will be used for air defense missions.
"It will be used for air defense, a vital component of territorial defense which is a constitutional mandate of the AFP (Armed Forces of the
Air defense refers to the capability to detect and protect a country's airspace against aerial intruders.
Canaya said that this is possible as the Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) made jet plane has basic fighter capabilities.
"The F/A-50 (can train) fighter pilots and has basic capabilities jet fighter capabilities," he added.
The
It is worth P18. 9 billion.
Canaya said the South Korean jet aircraft can be used to redevelop the supersonic capabilities of the PAF whose last supersonic planes, the Northrop F-5 "Tiger", was retired last 2005.
The F/A-50, as per technical specifications obtained from the Department of National Defense, can carry a total of 10,500lbs of weapons including an internal 20mm internal automatic cannon, two short-ranged air-to-air AIM-9 "Sidewinder" missiles and air-to-surface AGM-65 missiles for close-air support.
A guidance kit called the JDAM (joint direct attack munition) is also installed into the F/A-50, allowing it to convert unguided or "dumb bombs" into all-weather smart munitions.
These bombs are outfitted with an inertial guidance system that is tied to a global positioning system receiver to guide the deployed munition intended to precisely hit a specific target, and to minimize collateral damage.
This is the ever PAF aircraft to employ such weapons as the Northrop F-5 "Tiger" and Vought F-8 "Crusader" which are the country's first and class supersonic fighters do not have the above-mentioned capabilities.
Both planes are only armed with 20mm cannons, air-to-air missiles and unguided bombs and rockets.
The
KAI's F/A-50 has a top speed of Mach 1.5 or one and half times the speed of sound.
The F/A-50 will act as the country's interim fighter until the
The F/A-50 design is largely derived from the F-16 "Fighting Falcon", and they have many similarities: use of a single engine, speed, size, cost, and the range of weapons.
KAI's previous engineering experience in license-producing the KF-16 was a starting point for the development of the F/A-50.
The aircraft can carry two pilots in tandem seating. The high-mounted canopy developed by Hankuk Fiber is applied with stretched acrylic, providing the pilots with good visibility, and has been tested to offer the canopy with ballistic protection against four-pound objects impacting at 400 knots.
The altitude limit is 14,600 meters (48,000 feet), and airframe is designed to last 8,000 hours of service.
There are seven internal fuel tanks with capacity of 2,655 liters (701
An additional 1,710 liters (452
Trainer variants have a paint scheme of white and red, and aerobatic variants white, black, and yellow.
The F/A-50 "Fighting Eagle" uses a single General Electric F404-102 turbofan engine license-produced by Samsung Techwin, upgraded with a full authority digital engine control system jointly developed by General Electric and KAI.
The engine consists of three-staged fans, seven axial stage arrangement, and an afterburner.
The aircraft has a maximum speed of Mach 1.4-1.5.
Its engine produces a maximum of 78.7 kN (17,700 lbf) of thrust with afterburner.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=649025
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