Grounding of attack planes won’t hamper operations, says military

MANILA, Philippines—Law enforcements operations will not be affected by the grounding of OV-10 ground attack planes, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said Thursday.

AFP spokesman Colonel Arnulfo Burgos said “law enforcement operation will continue and this will not affect our air and ground operations.”

He said the Philippine military has other support aircraft that can give close air support to ground troops. These are SF-260 airplanes, MG-520 attack helicopters, and UH1H Huey helicopters.

The fleet of OV-10 was grounded after one bomber aircraft crashed in Edwin Andrews Air Base (EAAB) in Zamboanga City Wednesday.

Burgos said they were thankful that the two pilots were safe.

Investigations were being conducted to find out if the crash was due to a mechanical problem or pilot error, Burgos said.

Meawhile, the Philippine Air Force was expecting the delivery of several Polish made SOKOL choppers before the end of the year, Burgos said.