03 June 2017

News Story: Air Force low on 'smart' munitions, Lorenzana admits

By Alexis Romero

MANILA, Philippines — The military aircraft that launched the air strike that killed 11 soldiers in Marawi City last Wednesday ran out of precision-guided munitions, forcing the pilots to drop ordinary and less accurate bombs, a Cabinet official said Thursday.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana confirmed that a conventional bomb hit government forces, resulting in the death of the 11 soldiers and the wounding of seven others.

“We still have some precision-guided munitions na pagka pinakawalan ‘yan talagang kung saan naka — naka-indicate na area, pupunta doon (that will really hit the indicated targets). But medyo naubusan na tayo niyan (we ran out of that),” the Defense chief said in a press briefing in Malacañang.

“They are now using conventional bombs and if you commit a mistake, either you will release it in advance or the release will be delayed then you will not hit the target,” he added.

Lorenzana said the first aircraft “hit the target squarely” but the second one dropped the bomb on the government forces.

“We do not yet know what happened. We are still investigating,” he said.

Read the full story at PhilStar