RP 'to purchase fighter squadron'

RP 'to purchase fighter squadron'

MANILA (AFP): The Philippines is expected to start receiving offers for at least a squadron of fighter aircraft by the middle of the year to launch a US$12.7 billion modernization program, the country's top military official said.

Gen. Arnulfo Acedera told AFP that the military should submit a list of requirements under the 15-year upgrade by June -- "perhaps even earlier than that" -- after which it will immediately start to entertain proposals by defense contractors.

The country's most pressing need "is a credible air defense system" that would include an efficient radar, at least three squadrons of multi-role fighters and an appropriate command and control capability, he said.

However, as only 50 billion pesos ($1.9 billion) would be appropriated in the first five years, the military might have to make do with just one squadron, military sources said.

The F-16 and F/A-18 of the United States, the Mirage of France and Russia's MiG-29 appear to meet the requirements of the Air Force, Acedera confirmed, but dismissed local reports that the choice had narrowed down to these aircraft.

Defense department sources here pointed out that the F-16 is now the aircraft of choice of neighbors Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, among others.

The modernization law requires that new imported weapons must be in use in their country of origin or in two other countries. Congress must also vet large purchases.

Manila may well take the short-term palliative of acquiring refurbished F-5 jets, since Acedera said "it takes four years to take delivery" of new military aircraft.

Nevertheless, Senate national defense committee chairman Orlando Mercado said the government must now review this option because their "reliability and airworthiness may be doubtful."

The urgency was driven home earlier this month when an Air Force pilot plowed a riverbank in the northern Philippines with his F-5 jet, killing himself and a farmer on the ground when he attempted to make a low pass at a military parade.

The accident left the archipelago with just four of the Vietnam-era fighters. The high command had them immediately grounded, leaving the country with no cover at all.

Manila did not have to take care of external defense until 1992, when Filipino nationalist rhetoric and U.S. budgetary constraints forced U.S. forces to pull out after nearly a century from Clark Air Base and Subic Naval Base.

The immediate Navy requirements are missile-armed corvettes and offshore patrol craft, but military sources say not one manufacturer now stands out.

Acedera said the end of the Cold War and the winding down of domestic insurgences with the signing of a peace treaty with Moslem separatists last year has refocused the military's efforts. He said he expects a dwindling communist insurgency to make the peace within two years.

New concerns include international terrorism and regional "flashpoints which have already been identified," he said, referring to territorial disputes on small islands in the South China Sea.

"Obviously, our modernization program would have to be tailored to answer to that scenario."

He cited the "hegemonic" history of China, which was "a matter of interest for all."

In 1995, China occupied a Philippine-claimed reef in the Spratlys, an archipelago also claimed in whole or in part by four other neighboring countries. Last year, Philippine naval gunboats skirmished with suspected Chinese vessels off Subic Bay.