Newly acquired FA-50PHs equipped with airborne-radar

From the Philippine News Agency (Dec 30): Newly acquired FA-50PHs equipped with airborne-radar

With its modern air-to-air radar systems, the newly commissioned FA-50PHs "Fighting Eagle" can do autonomous air patrols without relying on ground-based surveillance systems.

While not giving specifics, Philippine Air Force (PAF) Spokesperson Lt. Col. Enrico Canaya said the Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI)-made light-interim fighter aircraft can detect aerial intruders while on patrol.

This feature of the FA-50PHs has greatly boosted the air defense capabilities of the PAF which was degraded with the decommissioning of its Northrop F-5 "Tiger" jet fighter squadrons and Vought F-8 "Crusader" fleet, in 2005 and 1988, respectively.

The decommissioning was done due to air frame aging and lack of spare parts to keep the two planes on operational status.

WIth the deactivation of its two premier supersonic jet fighters, the PAF was forced to convert the SIAI-Marchetti S-211 jet trainers for an air defense role.

However, the S-211s are ill-suited for air defense work due to their slow speeds

The Department of National Defense earlier said that the radar systems onboard the F/A-50s is one of the many pluses why the Philippines opted to acquire 12 units KAI-made jet fighter over its many competitors.

The first two FA-50PHs were delivered last Nov. 28.

The Philippines has signed a PHP18.9 billion with KAI for the delivery of 12 FA-50PHs.

The FA-50PH 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.

It will act as the country's interim fighter until the Philippines get enough experience on operating fast jet assets and money to fund the acquisition of more capable fighter aircraft.

The FA-50PH 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 FA-50PH.

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 gallons), five in the fuselage and two in the wings.

An additional 1,710 liters (452 US gallons) of fuel can be carried in the three external fuel tanks.

Trainer variants have a paint scheme of white and red, and aerobatic variants white, black, and yellow.

The FA-50PH 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=842203