DND allots PHP106.1-M for FA-50PH gun system ammo

From the Philippine News Agency (Sep 16): DND allots PHP106.1-M for FA-50PH gun system ammo

The Department of National Defense (DND) has allocated PHP106,138,800 for the purchase of 20mm rounds for the A-50 gun system of the Philippine Air Force (PAF)'s brand-new FA-50PH jet fighters.

The sum is equivalent to 93,600 rounds of 20mm munition. Funds for this project will be sourced from the AFP Modernization Act Trust Fund.

Delivery of the ammunition shall be in two batches. The first batch shall be delivered within 180 calendar day’s period from the receipt of Notice to Proceed and the second batch shall be delivered within 360 calendar days from Receipt of Notice to proceed.

Bidders should have completed, within 10 years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the project.

Pre-bid conference is slated on Sept. 26, 10: 30 a.m. at the DND Bidding and Awards Conference Room, Right Wing Basement, DND Building, Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.

The Philippines has a 12 FA-50PH order from Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) worth Php18.9 billion.

The first two units arrived last Nov. 28 with the remaining 10 to be delivered during 2016 and 2017.

The FA-50PHs 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 gets enough experience of operating fast jet assets and money to fund the acquisition of more capable fighter aircraft.

Its 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=923509