Korea-made jets armed

From The Standard (Jan 5): Korea-made jets armed

The Department of National Defense has allocated  P106.13 million for the acquisition of 93,600 rounds of ammunition for two fighter jets acquired recently from South Korea.

The money will be sourced from the Armed Forces of the Philippines  Modernization Act Trust Fund, according to the bid bulletin from the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System.

The ammunition  will be used to arm the FA-50PH’s modified A50 gun system.

The weapon will be utilized in close-quarter fighting and strafing missions.

But military spokesman Col. Restituto Padilla criticized the report filed by a state-run press agency as a “regrettable publicity.” 

“It should not have been reported at all. The  publicity  made it easier for the enemy to  monitor developments in the military,”  Padilla said in Filipino. 

Pre-bid conference is set on Jan. 6 at 11 a.m. at the DND Bidding and Awards Committee Conference Room, DND Building, Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, according to the Philippine News Agency.

Winning bidders are required to deliver the items within 360 calendar days.

Two of the country’s first FA-50PH jet aircraft arrived at Clark Air Base, Angeles City, Pampanga last Nov. 28.

The two aircraft  form part of the 12-plane order from the Korea Aerospace Industries in a deal valued at  P18.9 billion.

The F/A-50 (the other designation for the FA-50PH) is capable of being fitted with air-to-air missiles, including the AIM-9 “Sidewinder” air-to-air and heat-seeking and radar-guided missiles,  according to  PNA.

It will act as the country’s interim fighter until the Philippines gets enough experience to operate fast jet assets and money to fund the acquisition of more capable fighter aircraft.

Incidentally, the F/A-50 design is largely derived from the F-16 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 seated in tandem. 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.

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