The decision to reactivate three more SIAI-Marchetti S-211 jet trainers is aimed at increasing the number of aerial assets needed to screen and train prospective F/A-50 pilots.
This was revealed by Air Defense Wing official Col. Miguel Ernesto Okol in a message to the PNA.
The additional S-211s will provide incoming pilots of the South Korean-built jet plane with the flight time and training needed for fast aircraft operations.
"So far, we have three (S-211) operational and we are requesting (funds) for CY (calender year) 2015 to operationalize one," Okol stressed.
He added that reactivation for two more S-211s are afoot.
"We have two more after this but (this is) subject to funding," Okol disclosed.
The F/A-50 "Fighting Eagle" is expected to be in service by the third quarter of 2015.
Earlier, Okol said that four PAF pilots will be deployed to
He added that these officers are relatively junior and only have the rank of captain and major.
Aside from this, these PAF officials relatively have high jet time compared to other pilots.
Okol said that these officials have accrued their jet time flying SIAI-Marchetti S-211 jet trainers which doubles as attack aircraft of the PAF.
"These men will be rated as test pilots and operational pilots of the F/A-50s while those who only have 200 to 300 hours of jet hours will be first made to undergo F/A-50 simulator training before being trained and certified by our test pilots for F/A-50 operations," the PAF official said in Filipino.
Deployment of these PAF pilots to
The
Department of National Defense undersecretary for finance, modernization, installations, and munitions Fernando Manalo said that the first two F/A-50 jet aircraft will be delivered 18 months after the opening of the letter of credit, the next two will be delivered 12 months later and the remaining eight jet planes to be delivered in staggered basis within eight months.
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
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
An additional 1,710 liters (452
Trainer variants have a paint scheme of white and red, and aerobatic variants white, black, and yellow.
The F/A-50 "Fighting Eagle" 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 KAI.
The engine consists of three-staged fans, seven axial stage arrangement, and an afterburner.
The aircraft has a maximum speed of Mach 1.4-1.5.
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=651438
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