Philippine Air Force fighter jet with two pilots goes missing

FILE PHOTO: Philippine Air Force’s fighter jets: FA-50PH Nr 001 and 002. PAF FACEBOOK

MANILA, Philippines — An FA-50 fighter jet of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) went missing early Tuesday before reaching its destination.

The incident is the most serious incident involving the country’s South Korean-built supersonic aircraft so far.

“Shortly after midnight on March 4, 2025, an FA-50 fighter jet went missing during a tactical night operation,” said PAF spokesperson Col. Maria Consuelo Castillo.

Castillo said the FA-50 with two pilots on board was supposed to land at Mactan Airbase in Cebu.

However, the jet lost communication with one of its fellow aircraft “minutes before reaching the target area.”

“The other aircraft repeatedly attempted to establish contact with the missing aircraft until their return to Mactan, Cebu,” Castillo said.

At this time, she also cannot disclose the total number of the companion aircraft of the missing FA-50.

Search and rescue operations are ongoing.

“Our primary concern right now is the safe return of our aircrew,” Castillo said.

“We are hopeful that we would still be able to recover [the FA-50], and we are still very optimistic that they are safe,” she added.

PAF currently has 11 remaining FA-50s in its arsenal after retiring some of its fighters in 2005.

All the FA-50s were acquired from Korea Aerospace Industries for P18.9 billion during the administration of Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino Jr.

READ: PH’s four FA-50s arrive in Australia, mark first-ever overseas deployment

In 2015, a T-50 Golden Eagle fighter jet, similar to PAF’s FA-50, crashed, killing two Indonesian pilots.

The FA-50 and T-50 are variants of the same military aircraft manufactured by Korea Aerospace Industries.

“Accidents like this do happen, but it is our duty to face such dangers to serve the country,” former military public affairs chief Col. Harold Cabunoc said of the T-50 crash in a Facebook post in December 2015.