The Philippine Air Force received its fourth pair of FA-50 fighter jets. on Wednesday, March 29, 2017. The remaining two batches will arrive in April and May. Photo from the Defense Press Corps.)
The Philippine Air Force received on Wednesday the fourth pair of FA-50 lead-in fighter trainer jets from South Korea.
The jets, with tail numbers 007 and 008, were delivered at Clark Air Base in Pampanga. The first batch arrived in November 2015, at a time when there were heightened tensions in the South China Sea caused by a maritime dispute with China.
The Aquino administration ordered 12 fighter jets worth P18.9 billion from Korea Aerospace Industries, the biggest military upgrade under the modernization program.
The military recently announced that the remaining four fighter jets will arrive in pairs in April and May this year.
The purchase of the jets marked the return of the supersonic combat aircraft in the arsenal of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). The Air Force retired its F-5 fighter jets in 2005.
The first six units of the fighter jets have been recently used in familiarization flights in the Visayas and Mindanao, as well as in airstrikes against terror groups in the south. /atm