Refurbished aircraft seen to boost PAF capability

The Philippine Air Force (PAF) has an added lift capability with the delivery yesterday of a newly refurbished F27-500 light transport aircraft from the United Kingdom.

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said that the P91.2-million aircraft may serve as an alternate to the C-130 cargo plane he normally uses for field visits.

"That is an additional lift capability," Esperon said of the new aircraft acquired from Aerglobe, a British aircraft company based in Indonesia.

Esperon said using F27-500 for his field visits is more economical in terms of fuel cost and flying time. He said AFP spends P300,000 per hour for a C-130 as against the P60,000 per hour for a F27-500.

"I have this thing available, which is close to P60,000 per hour only with the same approximate number of passengers. So that is big savings on our part," Esperon said. PAF currently has two functioning C-130 transport aircraft.

Considered the weakest in the region, PAF has embarked on a modernization that involves the acquisition of new aircraft under the Department of Defense’s Air Force Capability, Materiel and Technology Development (CMTD) program. Many PAF aircraft are of World War II vintage.

With no imminent outside threat, the government sees more wisdom in acquiring attack and transport helicopters instead of modern fighter planes.

Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz Jr. said earlier attack and transport helicopters would be more helpful in the anti-insurgency campaign than modern aircraft.

Under his Philippine Defense Reform (PDR) program Cruz wanted to stamp out internal security threats first before shifting to external defense.

At present, PAF is the only air force in the region that has no external defense capability following the decommissioning of its Vietnam War-era F-5 fighter jets in October last year.