PH to lease US military equipment

The administration said on Monday it would lease from the United States long-range patrol aircraft and watercraft to help defend its claims to disputed waters in the West Philippine Sea.

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said he hoped to receive the first pieces of equipment within the year.

He said that the lease of the aircraft and watercraft could be financed with funds from the Armed Forces of the Philippines modernization fund. He added that the defense department would seek an additional budget for the purpose if necessary.

“We are looking at modern equipment… with the very long-range patrol aircraft and also watercraft so we can guard our territory,” Gazmin told reporters.

He stressed that the Philippines was not seeking “excess defense articles,” or old US equipment, which it had relied on in the past, but wanted new items in the face of recent tensions with China over the disputed waters and the Spratlys islands.

The United States has said that it would study the list and see what kind of equipment the Philippines could afford and was capable of operating, Gazmin added.

“When you talk of new equipment you talk of operational costs. With the very limited budget that we have, we have to see if we can afford it,” he said.

Gazmin said last week that the Philippines was looking for new fighter aircraft, six years after retiring its Vietnam War-vintage F5 fighter jets.

Tensions in the strategic and resource-rich West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) have escalated in recent weeks, with the Philippines and Vietnam voicing alarm at what they say are increasingly forceful Chinese actions there.

They include accusations of Chinese forces opening fire on Filipino fishermen, shadowing an oil exploration vessel employed by a Philippine firm, and putting up structures in areas claimed by the Philippines.

The West Philippine Sea includes the Spratlys, a chain of islands believed to sit on vast mineral resources.

Aside from the Philippines, China and Vietnam, the area is also wholly or partially claimed by Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan.

US officials said last week that Washington was willing to provide hardware to modernize the Philippine military amid the growing territorial strains, but no details were announced. AFP and Christine O. Avendaño