Of helicopters, Turk and Russian

Last Friday, the front page of our newspapers carried the same photo from Malacañang. It showed the President with the Turkish ambassador at the ceremonial blessing of two T129 ATAK helicopters acquired by the Philippine Air Force from Turkiye. Incidentally, this is the new name of the country, pronounced “Tur-key-yay.” Six units of the helicopters were ordered during the Duterte administration. Two were delivered in March this year.

Some background information.

After the Battle of Marawi in 2017, the Philippine Air Force, in an evaluation of aircraft performance, determined that the helicopters being used – the MD-520 MG-20 Defender and the AW-109E – did not have sufficient firepower for missions assigned to them. This led to an Attack Helicopter Acquisition Project (AHAP) under the Horizon 2 phase of the Revised AFP Modernization Program. A budget of P13.8 billion was allotted for the project.

The Philippine Air Force, after an evaluation process, shortlisted three possible candidates: (1) The T129 manufactured by Turkiye Aerospace Industries [TAI]; (2) US Bell AH-1Z Viper and (3) US Boeing AH-64E Apache Guardian. This last is said to be the best attack helicopter in the business but is also among the most expensive. In the end, the PAF Technical Working Group chose the Turkish helicopter.

Some folks may ask why Turkiye? The main reason given was affordability. For the available budget, Turkiye was giving six units. The competition tried to match this offer but the word was “to spread defense acquisition projects across several countries.” In other words, not just the United States.

There was some concern about engine and avionics parts that were not produced by Turkiye and had to be brought in from the United Kingdom or the United States. Relations between Turkiye, NATO and the US have not always been smooth and friendly. In fact, at times they were confrontational.

In September 2019, the Department of National Defense issued Acquisition Decision Memorandum, confirming the T129 of Turkiye. The following year, the department released the Notice of Award (NOA) in favor of TAI, followed by contract signing and an initial payment of 15 percent of the contract price, roughly P2 billion. In May 2021, pilots and technicians of the PAF 15th Strike Wing, end-user of the choppers, left for Turkiye to undergo training.

The secretary of national defense announced the expected delivery date of September, later moved to December 2021. The actual delivery date was March 2022 when two units arrived at Clark. After assembly and testing, formal acceptance was done in April. They were the first helicopter exports of this type by TAI. The last two units are scheduled for delivery in early 2023.

Now for the Russian helicopters.

As I mentioned in earlier columns, the deal with Russia was signed in November 2021, roughly a year after the Turkish transaction was closed. The Russian contract was for 16 MI-17 helicopters at P12.7 billion while the Turkish transaction was for six units of T129 choppers for P13.8 billion. Sixteen Russian against six Turkish at almost the same price, actually cheaper! Are the Turkish models that much more superior in performance than the Russian? Someone in authority should clarify this puzzling situation, since we made a down payment of P2 billion to Russia in January 2022. A few months later, we cancelled the transaction for fear of possible US sanctions which we knew existed before.

The Russian deal has been described by retired senior military officials in private as a “political decision.” But such decisions should not be implemented if there may be violation of our laws. The good soldier is trained to follow orders but he must also be able to disagree in a polite and diplomatic manner even at the cost of having to step down, particularly if such decision may harm the national interest.

In December 2018, after president Donald Trump announced that US troops would be pulled out of Syria, Defense Secretary James Mattis, highlighting the importance of supporting US allies, disagreed with Trump’s decision, and tendered his resignation. Part of his letter to the President reads: “Because you have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours on this and other subjects, I believe it is right for me to step down from my position.”

President Trump reacted by saying he “essentially” fired Mattis.