All of the six newly-commissioned AgustaWestland AW-109E
attack helicopters will be based at Danilo Atienza Air Base in Sangley Point, Cavite
This was disclosed by Philippine Air Force chief-of-air
staff Major Gen. Galileo Gerard Kintanar on Saturday.
Danilo Atienza Air Base is the headquarters of the PAF's
15th Strike Wing, the Air Force's primary ground attack unit.
"All (AW-109 attack helicopters) will be stationed in
Sangley Point, Cavite
The helicopters will make their first operational deployment
in Mindanao by the second quarter of 2016.
"Some of them will be deployed in Mindanao ,
that is where the aircraft are needed for ISO and hopefully all of them will be
deployed by early 2017. So in 2016, we see the initial deployment of a couple
of them by the second quarter and as we train more pilots to operate and fly
them, all of them will be flying in deployment areas by 2017," Kintanar
said.
The first PAF attack AW-109s were commissioned last Aug. 17
while the remaining six were formally accepted for PAF service on Dec. 5.
The Philippines
Kintanar said the eight attack AW-109es will remedy the
dwindling number of MG-520 attack helicopters primarily used for close-air
support missions.
"Definitely it will significantly increase our
capability for close-air support as the (PAF) commanding general (Lt. Gen.
Jeffrey Delgado) said we only have a dozen of the MG-520 so this is a welcome
addition of capabilities. What is important is it has more capabilities to
speak of, it will be able to carry more ordnance and it can operate at
night," he added.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=834921
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