Finally, back on the radar

An agreement has been reached between the governments of South Korea and the Philippines for the latter to finally purchase twelve FA-50 Golden Eagle fighter jets as part of the President's modernization of all branches of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. After months of discussions, negotiations and even legal and financial hurdles, the PAF will once again be brought to the supersonic age. We all know the joke. All air, no force. It stopped being funny after a while, especially when we heard a country like China wanting to gobble up the whole ocean right beside us.

The Philippine Air Force was at one time the most feared air force in the region, after it acquired the F-5 Freedom Fighters from the US. In the Fifties and Sixties, our pilots lorded the airspace. They won in international events like flight maneuvers and gunnery. These were the glory days of the PAF. It was a different story in the following decades. No purchase of new fighter aircraft were made in the Seventies, Eighties, and Nineties. The F-5s were flown to the point where their airframes started to fail from fatigue. Planes, like anything, become old. Accidents followed, most of them fatal, until the remaining units were finally grounded in 2005.

The PAF did acquire the S-211, much to the criticism of those who were well versed in military aircraft. Its designation was a military trainer, but the PAF turned it into somewhat of a frontline fighter, installing weapon systems. To this day, we are the only country still actively using the S-211, with five in its arsenal. It does have its share of accidents, some fatal.

Which is why the purchase of twelve FA-50 fighters from South Korea is a much welcome development and improvement. Our pilots will have to undergo thorough training in South Korea before they are able to fly the fighter, as this is a whole new ball game for them. But I'm sure every one of them is excited to get into the new plane and get airborne.

It is good that the President is making good on his promise to modernize the AFP. Two Hamilton-class cutters have been delivered to the country and are now patrolling our waters. With the purchase of twelve FA-50s, that should put the PAF back on the radar of most countries, who have all but written us off the past decades. One country definitely keeping an eye on us militarily is China, and with the purchase of the new fighters finally pushing through, I'm sure they will raise a howl. To them, they deserve to be the only superpower in the region, if not the world.

I hope the PAF will still consider other aircraft, if it plans to purchase some more. The FA-50 is considered to be a lead-in fighter trainer. That being said, it would be nice if our pilots could lead-in to frontline fighters like the F-16, F-18 or even the Saab Gripen, or Dassault Rafale. Any of these aircraft would be great for the PAF. Let us hope that the modernization continues, and does not once again become stagnant like that of the Seventies. With the map of the world wanting to be re-drawn by China, we need to defend what is rightfully ours.