Members of the Philippine and the United States air forces have successfully completed the 12-day Bilateral Air Contingent Exchange – Philippines (BACE-P), the seventh of a series of a joint military training and increased mutual cooperation at Cesar Basa Air Base in Pampanga
(PIXABAY/MANILA BULLETIN)
According to the United States Embassy in Manila, the BACE-P was conducted from January 21 to February 1 and provided an opportunity for U.S. Air Force F-16s and PAF FA-50s fighter aircraft to practice “interfly training” and conduct subject matter expert exchanges including intelligence, flight line, and maintenance operations.
This year’s iteration of BACE-P was described as “unique” for its incorporation of the US F-16 Fighting Falcons in the joint training. The first BACE-P was conducted on April 16, 2016.
In a separate statement, Col. Christopher Faurot, commander of the BACE-P 13th Expeditionary Air Squadron, said having the F-16 fighter allowed the USAF to interact with their Philippine counterparts along with their FA-50s, and in turn, helped to strengthen interoperability and training between the two sides.
“Through this engagement, our bilateral forces increased their interoperability and our partners demonstrated that they are a disciplined, professional and highly motivated force,” he said.
In addition to interfly training between the US F-16s and the PAF’s FA-50s, both sides also conducted expert exchanges on topics that include crash recovery, communications, flight line, and maintenance back-shop operations.
On the last day of the training, both sides engaged the participation of a large force.
Lt Col. Tom Kanewske, a pilot with the 121st Fighter Squadron, 113th Wing, D.C. Air National Guard, described the experience working with their PAF counterparts as both “terrific” and “wonderful.”
“As part of the bilateral engagement we’ve really focused on the sharing of best practices, so whether it’s our air-to-air and air-to-ground training with them as pilots or also reaching out to their ground forces — their forward air controllers — to that cross-sharing of information across survival specialists or maintainers, that level of engagement is something we don’t normally get in the international bilateral format, so it’s really been wonderful,” he said.
BACE-P officials noted that such bilateral engagement really matters as it consistently promotes interoperability, builds upon the foundation of a strong U.S.-Philippines’ alliance, and reaffirm the U.S. commitment to the Indo-Pacific region.
“We have seen a great degree of coalescing around joint tactics so the ability to see that improvement over a two-week time period provides us all the more momentum we need to keep these engagements on schedule and continue to show that overall joint improvement,” Kanewske added.
For his part, Maj. Mario Mendazo, a PAF FA-50 pilot with the 7th Tactical Fighter Squadron, expressed his appreciation for the bilateral exchange, saying that the U.S. Air Force shared with them a lot of knowledge that they can apply in the near future.
“During our exchange, I learned a lot when it comes to fighter operations, specifically air-to-air and air-to-ground. Air-to-air-like intercepts of different kinds of targets, threats airborne, and … threats on the ground specifically dealing with close air support missions,” Mendazo explained.
With such joint training and exchanges, Mendazo said he sees a “stronger alliance in the future and brighter days ahead for the two countries.”
Kanewske echoed Mendazo’s statement regarding the importance and necessity of continuing to foster and develop the USAF-PAF partnership.
“These degrees of engagements will only further our combined strategic objectives and we see the Philippine Air Force and the [Armed Forces of the] Philippines in general as a major contributor to the overall regional stability in the Pacific,” he said.
The conclusion of the BACE-P cooperation came in the light of the Philippine government’s latest admission that US troops have been providing assistance to the Philippine Army in its operations against terror attacks, specifically in Sulu area following the Jolo cathedral twin bombings.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana earlier said US forces were the first to rescue wounded Filipino soldiers who were flown to Zamboanga and have been helping the AFP track the terrorists even before the occurrence of the Jolo church bombing.
https://news.mb.com.ph/2019/02/05/paf-usaf-wrap-up-air-exercises/
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