SHAH ALAM: The Philippines Air Force (PAF) has taken delivery of the sixth Airbus C295 airlifter out of seven ordered. The sixth aircraft was formally accepted in a ceremony on November 9 in Manila.
From Airbus:
Airbus has handed over the sixth of seven new-generation C295 aircraft to the Philippine Air Force (PAF) at the aircraft turnover ceremony held at the Basa Air Base in Pampanga today, enhancing its military transport capabilities.
The milestone ceremony was witnessed by the President of the Republic of Philippines and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr., Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Lieutenant General Vicente Bartolome Bacarro, and Commanding General of the Philippine Air Force, Lieutenant General Connor Anthony D Canlas Sr.
PAF selected a fleet of C295 tactical airlifters as part of its medium-lift aircraft acquisition programme. These new combat proven C295s are dedicated for troops and equipment transportation across the archipelago.
Congratulating the Philippine Air Force on their newest C295, Airbus Defence and Space Head of Asia-Pacific Johan Pelissier said: “With the seventh aircraft on track to join the fleet in the coming months, we are fully confident that the new additions will complement the rest as an integral part of PAF’s fleet, as the air force utilises the aircraft extensively to boost its air-lift operations. PAF’s wide use of the C295 for various critical missions has fully demonstrated it as a reference user of the tactical airlifter in Southeast Asia.”
Since its first delivery in 2015, the PAF has successfully deployed the C295 for various transport operations, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions, thanks to its access to short unpaved airstrips in remote areas, while carrying heavy payloads over long distances. The C295 fleet was pivotal in supporting PAF’s humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) operations, especially during the typhoons that frequently plagued the Philippines.
With nearly 30% of the global orders acquired by military agencies in the Asia Pacific region, the highly versatile tactical airlifter is a benchmark for military and civil missions in all types of environments.
— Malaysian Defence
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View Comments (24)
For troops transport. Slowly catching up. SPH from Israel & coastal missile battery from India. I think we are the only one in the region without a medium or long range coastal air defense. Which is why the PLAF dared to fly so close to our weakest point. Good work mindef :/
Qamarul - ''For troops transport''
Well it's not for airdropping Jollibee or fun rides. You'd have noticed that the PAF only had 2-3 C-130s and serviceability was low.
Qamarul - ''Slowly catching up. ''
''Catching up'' with whom exactly? The AFP has long been neglected and has only started getting things it planned a longtime ago; in small numbers. In a sense the Philippines is like us; buying a bit but never enough of anything because of a long and delayed shopping list; although fanboys get all excited.
Qamarul - ''I think we are the only one in the region without a medium or long range coastal air defense.''
If you performed a simple search you wouldn't have to think because you'd know.
Qamarul -''Which is why the PLAF dared to fly so close to our weakest point. ''
Silly. It's a peacetime situation and even if we had batteries of Patriots they still would have come close. Japan has AD systems but Chinese planes still fly in their ADIZ which they wouldn't have if we followed your line of reasoning.
Qamarul - '' Good work mindef :/''
I'm sorry; do you have sources to share that MINDEF doesn't ask for funding? Does MINDEF make policy or actually allocate funding?
the flips has plenty of legacy transport aircraft they're looking forward to get rid of, like Nomad or F27 Fokker, and not only that they're old, both of them are literally orphan product with the respective original companies already went bankrupt decades ago it make sense for them to buy C295 to replace these transport aircraft as well as to alleviate the burden on their handful of C-130s
That said AIROD did have few white tailed C-130 and I don't see there's any problem with the Congress about selling them to "friendly" countries
Sir Azlan but aside from 4 C-130 ...this year another C-130 is coming to Phil Airforce..And they already released the budget this year 2022 for 5 Brand new C-130J long body....They keep improving yearly
Russia are still demanding Pinoy to honour their Mil17 buys which they backed out.
dundun - ''I don’t see there’s any problem with the Congress about selling them to “friendly” countries''
A traditional issue and one that remains for the PAF is support funding. Acquiring the hardware was never the issue. In the past the Americans were cautious in transferring certain things due to concerns that the end user would face sustainment issues.
''Russia are still demanding Pinoy to honour their Mil17 ''
Hardly news is it? To be expected the Russians would want the deal to proceed : lost revenue. The problem is the Filipinos/''pinoys'' can't and won't.
Jun - ''They keep improving yearly''
It's good they're improving and to be expected because they're - if you have noticed - making up for lost time. For decades the AFP was severely underfunded and most of what it had was devoted to internal security efforts. Are you aware that at one point things were so bad that officers handed out SIM cards to troops before ops.
Things were every bad previously and have significantly improved but as it stands; like the MAF the AFP is very overstretched and is buying a bit but hardly enough of anything. The key challenge will be to maintain a certain level of funding over a certain period - continuity. Fan boys get excited when things are bought but we need to look.at things in totality.
Buying some but not enough of something is super easy barely an inconvenience. We did it all the time, some hornet here some caracal there. Thought Unlike us, The PH do manage to get some follow on order, but the timeline is erratic and without any guarantees of when nor if the next batch purchases is.
Most of their purchases are imported finance by debt hardly a sustainable policy going forward. unlike local currency, foreign currencies isn't infinite nor debt can just piles up without an upper limit. Defense is afterall an expense not an investment. This would impact the sovereign rating making interest higher for everyone's else. Without cheap easy access to debt it hard to grow one economy.
They are US treaty allies but they bought missiles & platforms from everyone except for the American. Without utilizing the same missiles as US their ability to sustain a war effort is highly questionable. Military eat missiles for lunch afterall.
PH is trying to rebuild their military for external defense posture basically from scratch. They have a very accelerated timeline because they badly needed it even at the expense of sustainability nor operational efficiencies.
A good move for them but a horrible move for us to immitate. We do have the basic what we need to do is to work out on the sustainability & efficiency side of things. There's no point in repeating our past mistake just out if fear of losing out.
Sir Joe. I think they will not proceed to continue Mil- 17 .especially USA GRANT them 100M $$ for the replacement of Downpayment for Russian Helicopter.Also USA gave them another 70M $$ for tixing and improving their base and HQ.
Jun - '' think they will not proceed to continue Mil- 17 ''
Get with the times. They have already made in publicly and crystal clear that they aren't going ahead with it.
Zaft - ''''Thought Unlike us, The PH do manage to get some follow on order''
We have a long list of follow on orders which I'll be more than happy to list here.
Zaft - ''''timeline is erratic and without any guarantees of when nor if the next batch purchases is.''
Like us...
Zaft - ''''Without utilizing the same missiles as US''
Several things. Think...
- For a long time; as you're aware or not; priority was internal security.
- A lot of what they would have liked from the U.S. they could not afford or the U.S. wasn't going to transfer-
- They lack various enablers thus getting the same kit as the U.S. will not lead to the same level of efficacy.
- Sustainment costs. If you have been observing things for a while you'll no doubt be ware that plans for Kfirs, Fulcrums and other things fell through because of sustainment costs; as did the U.S. looking at transferring F-16s.
Zaft - ''their ability to sustain a war effort is highly questionable.''
Their aim is not to ''sustain a war effort''..... Their aim to is acquire a level of deterrence and for the AFP to better monitor the vast archipelago. They are under no illusions that all the recent buys will be sufficient for the expected external threats they're worried about or about the ability of the AFP to conduct high intensity protracted multi domain operations.
"Hardly news is it?"
Just to remind everyone that going on a indiscriminate spending spree doesn't always bring benefits moreso when it was dictated by the emotions of a leader with a few screws loose. Now Pinoy are stuck with a deal they didn't want but internationally damaging if they didn't honour it or else, like us, pay penalty monies for equipment they don't see. Uncle Sam could partly for them and help sell these off to Afghanistan or somewhere but that would be against their embargo. Either ways it will still be financially damaging to Pinoy.
@Jun
Unlikely it will continue as they didn't want these either but it would be damaging internationally to abrogate a deal unless willing to pay some penalties, like we did with the aborted M109s.