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| A South Korean Air Force FA-50 Golden Eagle |
The South Korean-made FA-50PH “Fighting Eagle” is capable of doing many missions for the Philippine Air Force (PAF).
This is probably why the previous administration has opted to acquire this aircraft, said Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.
“The justification I see why the previous administration decided to acquire the FA-50PH is that it is a lead-in fighter aircraft which means it can be both use as a trainer and fighter,” he added in Filipino.
Lorenzana said such configurations were necessary considering that PAF pilots had been without a modern fighter aircraft for a long time and they could(n't) be given sophisticated fighters like the F-15 “Eagle” without rigorous training.
The PAF has retired its fleet of Northrop F-5 “Tiger” fighter jets due to airframe ageing and lack of spare parts, forcing the service to convert its SIAI-Marchetti S-211 jet trainers for this role.
“It takes years to train fighter pilots, (we will use) the FA-50PHs first and then later if we have (financial) capabilities to purchase the real fighter planes, we will do that,” he added.
The Philippines has a 12 FA-50PH order from Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) worth Php18.9 billion.
The first two units arrived last Nov. 28 with the remaining 10 to be delivered during 2016 and 2017.
Read the full story at Tankler
NOTE: The “Why Duterte criticises FA50 jet fighters” Link in the above was added by PacificSentinel for clarity & context.