PAF expands radar coverage, builds more air bases

Already assured of a whopping P139-billion budget to fund its latest five-year modernization program, the Philippine Air Force (PAF) is looking to beef up security in the country’s air space by hooking up its radars with those maintained by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap).

The Air Force is also building more air bases in strategic sites across the country and increasing engagements with its foreign counterparts, said Lt. Gen. Galileo Gerard Kintanar Jr., PAF commanding general.

President Rodrigo Duterte said 16 projects with a total budget of P139 billion were in the pipeline for the PAF.

Modern force

“We are expecting the delivery of additional equipment and machinery in the following years” needed to “further develop an adequately equipped, modern security force,” the President said during the PAF’s 71st founding anniversary on Tuesday at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City.

Kintanar said the service was partnering with Caap and the Department of Transportation  to craft a national strategy for aviation security.

The move seeks “to integrate our air defense radars with the Caap radars to enable us to effectively monitor and detect unregistered aircraft and other unidentified entrants through the correlation of our systems,” he added.

Kintanar said the PAF would also build bases and expand operations in eight provinces. —Jeannette I. Andrade and Julie M. Aurelio