Philippine Air Force (PAF) head Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Delgado
become of the first Filipino pilot to fly Mach 1.2 with the South Korean-made
F/A-50 "Fighting Eagle" jet fighter last Nov. 6.
This was confirmed by PAF spokesperson Col. Enrico Canaya in
a message to the PNA Monday.
"(Lt. Gen. Delgado) flew as back-rider last Nov. 6 with
a KAI (Korea Aerospace Industries) test pilot who demonstrated the performance
of the F/A-50PH including flying Mach 1.2 breaking the speed of sound," he
added.
Mach 1.2 is equivalent to 1,482 kilometers per hour or 913
miles per hour.
This feat earned Delgado a "Mach Buster Plaque"
for breaking the sound barrier of Mach 1.0.
Earlier, Department of National Defense (DND) spokesperson
Dr. Peter Paul Galvez said there is a very high chance that the F/A-50 will be
making an appearance during the 80th founding anniversary of the Armed Forces
of the Philippines (AFP) this coming December.
"Ninety percent the (first two) F/A-50s will play a
role in the coming 80th AFP founding anniversary," he added.
Galvez said that it very likely that the F/A-50s will play
the centerpiece of this year's celebration.
"I don't know whether the planes will perform a
high-speed pass or not but I know the aircraft will be centerpiece of the
celebration," the DND spokesperson disclosed.
The Philippine contract with Korea Aerospace Industries is
worth Php18.9-billion.
The 12 aircraft deal was signed last February 2014.
An initial two units are expected to be delivered by
December this year.
The F/A-50 has a top speed of Mach 1.5 or one and a half
times the speed of sound and is capable of being fitted air-to-air missiles,
including the AIM-9 "Sidewinder" air-to-air and heat-seeking missiles
aside from light automatic cannons.
The F/A-50 will act as the country's interim fighter until
the Philippines
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 US
An additional 1,710 liters (452 US
Trainer variants have a paint scheme of white and red, and
aerobatic variants white, black, and yellow.
The F/A-50 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 Korean
Aerospace Industries.
The engine consists of three-staged fans, seven axial stage
arrangement, and an afterburner.
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=824879
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