File photo of two FA50 Golden Eagles of the Philippine Air Force flying in formation by Joey Razon, PNA.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Col. Restituto Padilla on Monday described as "regrettable" recent less-than-patronizing reports about the procurement of munitions for the newly purchased supersonic FA50 "Golden Eagle" lead-in jet fighters from South Korea.
Some quarters expressed misgivings that the armaments procurement did not benefit from publicity, to which Padilla remarked that doing so would have played easily to the hands of the intelligence gathering effort of the country's military adversaries.
"Walang kahirap-hirap ang kalaban sa intelligence kung ganyan (The enemy wouldn't have to break a sweat)," he said in a telephone interview.
Padilla lamented a report posted online by a local news web site that is affiliated with a TV network citing him as saying that the allotted P106.13 million to buy for 9,600 rounds of 20mm ammunition is to be sourced from the Modernization Trust Fund of the AFP.
"No, I didn't say that the funds will be sourced from the AFP Modernization Trust Fund. I want to clarify that," he reacted.
He said the budget is part and parcel of the approved Revised Modernization Program of the AFP.
Interviewed over radio station dzBB of GMA Channel 7, Padilla confirmed the procurement of the 20mm cannon ammunition as posted on the government's Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (Philgeps) web site (http://philgeps.gov.ph/), but said only without further elaboration that the purchase "is part of the arms acquisition package for our aircrafts."
"Ayoko munang magcomment sa arms kasi may proseso pa 'yan e (I declined to comment for now because there is a process that the arms procurement has to go through)," Padilla just said.
In the list of the Defense Acquisition System (DAS) of the Department of National Defense (DND), the acquired aircraft from the Korean Aerospace (KAI) were bought for P18.9 billion.
The FA50 is described as Fighter Attack Aircraft/LIFT (Surface Attack Aircraft/LIFT). This type of trainer jet is capable of carrying short range air-to-air missiles, air-to-surface missiles with countermeasures such as chaffs and IR Flares (PB) and also armed with 20mm machine guns.
The first batch of two jets were delivered in November last year but were not combat-ready as their munitions have yet to undergo a separate procurement process. It could take two to three years more before the jets can be completely armed.
The government is eyeing an Israeli firm to supply the jets' munitions requirements.
The aircraft will also be armed with short-range air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles. The missile procurement has a combined initial budget of P4,375,170,862, excluding the counter measure requirements with a budget of P33,702,286.
The jet procurement comprised of 12 jets is one of the flagship projects of the Philippine Air Force (PAF). The aircraft will be stationed in three air bases fronting the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/122239/afp-regrets-unsavory-fa50-munitions-reports
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