Undecided Phl Air Force wide Ranging Modernization of supersonic speed Power- Eying British BAE Systems Hawk

Manila plans wide-ranging modernization of air force

The Philippines could issue requests for proposals (RFPs) for advanced jet trainers, transport aircraft and helicopter modifications within the next 12 months.

The Philippines air force has identified several capability gaps that it hopes to fill in the coming years, says an air force spokesman. Budgets have been approved for several acquisitions, but a competitive bidding process must be conducted for each purchase, with request for proposals to be issued before the end of 2013, he adds.

The highest profile acquisition planned is for 12 lead-in fighter trainer aircraft. Requirements for the type include radar, supersonic speed, and the ability to prosecute both ground and air targets - the latter with beyond visual range missiles.

"The [Korea Aerospace Industries] F/A-50 more or less fits our requirements, but we have not concluded it will be the F/A-50," says the spokesman.

Other types Manila could consider include the Alenia Aermacchi M-346, Yakovlev Yak-130 and the BAE Systems Hawk.

The Philippine Department of National Defence is in the process of drafting an RFP and the air force hopes to have the aircraft on the flight line as early as 2014-15, the spokesman says.

Although the Philippines retired its last Northrop F-5s in 2004, the spokesman says it has retained a foundation of jet pilots through the continued use of four Aermacchi S-211 jet trainers.

The 12 new aircraft would be used for both training and combat, and form a bridging capability for the future acquisition of a multi-role fighter, he adds.

With regard to airlift, the air force has two operational Lockheed Martin C-130Hs and a single C-130B. It hopes to obtain an additional C-130, as well as two medium lift transport aircraft and two light transport aircraft. All three acquisitions have been approved by air force leadership, with RFPs likely in the next 12 months.

In addition, the air force hopes to upgrade or refurbish 21 Bell UH-1 utility helicopters. The work would involve the modification of transmissions, improved engines and airframe improvements. Some of these aircraft are in service and some in storage. Manila hopes to start receiving refurbished UH-1s in 2014, the spokesman says.

Manila will also re-task its PZL-Swidnik W-3A Sokol helicopters to the search and rescue (SAR) role from the combat utility role. So far, the Philippines has received four Sokols from a 2010 order for eight examples of the type. It will receive the remaining four by the end of 2012.

"It was decided that the Sokols would be best to fill the SAR role," says the spokesman. "We are optimizing resources."

The Sokols will still be operated by the air force, but will be available for civilian SAR missions.

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Philippines to get five French patrol boats

The Philippines will buy five patrol boats from France for about 90 million Euros ($116 million), partly to guard disputed areas in the West Philippines Sea (South China Sea), the coastguard said Tuesday.

Rear Admiral Luis Tuason, the chief of the poorly-equipped coastguard, said one 82-metre (271-foot) ship and four 24-metre (79-foot) patrol craft would be delivered by 2014.

Tuason cited the need for such ships to patrol the rough waters of the South China Sea, which Manila calls the West Philippine Sea.

"When we patrol the West Philippine Sea, we encounter huge waves, turbulent waters so it will be better if we will use bigger ships," Tuason said in a statement.

Coastguard spokesman Lieutenant Commander Armand Balilo said the larger ship was a "heavy endurance vessel that can be deployed even in bad weather".

This is the first such ship to be acquired by the coastguard, he added.

The Philippines and China began a stand-off in April over the Scarborough Shoal, a group of islets in the South China Sea.

China claims the shoal as well as nearly all of the South China Sea, even waters close to the coasts of neighboring countries. The Philippines says the shoal is well within its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.

Balilo denied that the new French ships were being acquired due to the territorial dispute and said the coastguard, which currently has only nine operating ships, needed new vessels to perform their duties.

He said the new vessels would be deployed throughout the archipelago and not concentrate just on the disputed areas.

AFP

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US Approved! Exporting of Philippine banana to begin December 2012; Hoping for Russia, Europe and Mideast to Follow

US allows entry of 3,000 metric ton of local bananas

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has effectively given its go-signal to the export of 3,000 metric tons of cavendish bananas to continental United States by December 2012.

"The workplan [for the export of bananas to the US] has been approved. US Ambassador [to the Philippines] Harry K. Thomas Jr. has expressed satisfaction [with our] preparations when he visited the Dole Philippines plant a few weeks ago," Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) Director Clarito M. Barron said in an interview on Monday. The plant is located in Bukidnon province, in the country's southern Mindanao region.

According to Barron, the USDA's approval is welcome news for banana farmers who had to contend with lower shipments caused by a decision of China to subject Philippine bananas to more stringent sanitary and phytosanitary requirements.

Earlier this year, China impounded bananas from the Philippines purportedly due to the presence of scale insects in shipments.

The world economic giant is the second-biggest market for Philippine bananas, next to Japan. Banana exports to China reached 358,000 metric tons (MT) worth ₱4.75 billion in 2011.

In August the BPI declared that China had started to ease its restrictions on Philippine bananas. As of August 14, the Chinese quarantine office allowed the entry of 17,787 container vans equivalent to 356,092 metric ton of bananas valued at $71 million USD.

Despite this breakthrough, the private-sector led group of the Philippine Banana Growers and Exporters Association continues to conduct trade missions to the Middle East, Russia and Europe to promote Philippine bananas and develop new markets for its members' produce.

The BPI said the US government is reviewing the final work plan also for the export of cavendish bananas to US trust territories, which include Guam, the Marianas Islands and Palau.

With the opening of its market to local bananas, the US expects the Philippines to allow increased market access to its temperate vegetables.

Despite the restrictions imposed by China, banana exportation to china unstoppable - the National Statistics Office said in a recent report that the value of banana exports in January-August 2012 went up by 20.16 percent year-on-year to $309.16 million.

ABS-CBN News  

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