Philippines gets fighter jets from Korea

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines yesterday took delivery of two Korean-made fighter jets – the country’s first supersonic combat aircraft in a decade – as it strengthens its underfunded military amid an escalating territorial feud with China.

Amid applause from Philippine defense officials, the FA-50 jets touched down at Clark Freeport, a former US Air Force base in Pampanga, where fire trucks sprayed water as a traditional welcome salute for the still-unarmed aircraft. Bad weather delayed the delivery of the jet last Friday.

The Philippines bought 12 FA-50s, which are primarily trainer jets that the military converted to also serve as multi-role combat aircraft, from Korea Aerospace Industries at a cost of P18.9 billion ($402 million). The other jets would be delivered in batches until 2017.

Weapons that include bombs and rockets for the FA-50s will be purchased later.

“We’re glad we’re finally back to the supersonic age,“ Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said.

The Philippine military decommissioned its last fleet of supersonic combat aircraft, the F-5, in 2005.

Defense public affairs chief Arsenio Andolog said the jets would be stationed at the Subic freeport facing the West Philippine Sea where China has ramped up its presence by deploying more vessels and building artificial islands.

A military modernization program that included plans for the purchase of at least a squadron of fighter jets and naval frigates didn’t happen for several years largely because of a lack of funds.

Over the years, the military has deteriorated to become one of Asia’s weakest.

Under President Aquino, however, territorial spats with China over islands in the South China Sea escalated and resulted in the Chinese seizure of Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal in 2012, prompting the military to scramble to acquire new navy ships and air force planes with the help of its long-time defense treaty ally, the United States.

Lt. Col. Rolando Condrad Peña III, one of three Filipino air force pilots who received training in South Korea to fly the FA-50s, said that the jets could carry enough munitions payload and could be used in air-to-air and air-to-ground combat.

“Now that we have a supersonic aircraft our reaction time will be faster,” Pena told reporters.

“The arrival of the aircraft is very significant because it adds up to the capability,” Peña said.

“We have to contend with the subsonic aircraft, now that we have a supersonic aircraft our reaction time will be faster and we are more capable with this type of aircraft,” he added. (Ding Cervantes and Cecille Suerte Felipe, Philippine Star)

PHOTO:

SUPERSONIC AGE: Two Philippine Air Force FA-50PH fighter jets taxi on the runway upon landing at Clark Air Base in Pampanga yesterday. The first two of the 12 brand new fighter jets from South Korea arrived as part of the country’s modernization program. Inset shows Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Armed Forces chief Gen. Hernando Iriberri during the welcome ceremony. (Kriz John Rosales)

Read More: http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2015/11/29/1527087/philippines-gets-fighter-jets-korea

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Palace: DND talking to DBM on Subic airfield renovation plan

Malacañang on Sunday assured that the government is working to finish the improvement of the Subic Bay airfield.

"May regular na ugnayan ang Department of National Defense sa Department of Budget and Management upang masiguro na matapos sa takdang panahon ang pagpapahusay ng paliparan sa Subic," Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said over state-run radio dzRB.

He added that the government knows that the airfield is a valuable asset.

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority chairman Roberto Garcia said the government should rush the renovation of the airfield.

Garcia said that by December, two of the 12 FA50 fighters purchased from South Korea will arrive.

He said the remaining jets will arrive next year.

The Philippine Air Force was has been allocated about 10 percent of the 200-hectare airport facilities to house 12 jets.

Garcia also expressed concern about the upcoming elections in May, citing the pre-election ban on military spending that may start March next year.

"That is my concern, if the military does not get funding for the repairs, the air and naval bases may be delayed," Garcia said.

A Reuters report said that according to an air force general, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the press, the government had yet to respond to a request for 100 million pesos ($2.14 million) to refurbish Subic's airfield. (ALG, GMA News)

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/538568/news/nation/palace-dnd-talking-to-dbm-on-subic-airfield-renovation-plan

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Spending ban may delay repairs in Subic Bay for air support in West PH Sea

Subic Bay, Philippines - Plans to renovate an air base near Manila, enabling Philippine fighter jets to respond quickly to any Chinese moves in the disputed South China Sea, may face delays due to a spending ban before general elections, a senior official said on Friday.

New fighter jets and two frigates are to be stationed at the former U.S. naval facility in Subic Bay northwest of the capital from early next year, the first time the massive installation will have functioned as a military base in 23 years.

Subic Bay's deep-water harbor lies on the western side of the main Philippine island of Luzon, opposite the South China Sea, and is about 130 nautical miles (240 km) from Scarborough Shoal, a rocky outcrop China seized control of in 2012.

China has built seven artificial islands on submerged shoals and outcrops in the area, which it says is part of its territory, and is believed to be constructing three airfields there.

Robert Garcia, chairman of Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, - which is overseeing the conversion of the industrial and commercial complex - said the military had to move quickly to repair the base's airfield because a pre-election ban on military spending kicks in March.

The Philippines holds national elections in May.

"That is my concern, if the military does not get funding for the repairs, the air and naval bases may be delayed," Garcia said, adding that South Korea was due to deliver the first two fighters in early December.

An air force general, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the press, said the government had yet to respond to a request for 100 million pesos ($2.14 million) to refurbish Subic's airfield.

The Philippine Air Force has been allocated about 10 percent of the 200-hectare airport facilities to house a squadron of 12 FA50 light fighters for maritime security missions.

Once one of the biggest U.S. naval facilities in the world, Subic was shut in 1992 after the end of the Cold War.

"With the situation in the South China Sea right now, it looks like the presence of foreign troops will increase in coming months," Garcia said, adding that approval by the Supreme Court of a new military pact with the United States would change the situation. A ruling is expected next month. (Manuel Mogato, Reuters)

PHOTO:
Chinese dredging vessels are purportedly seen in the waters around Mischief Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands in this still image from video taken by a P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft provided by the United States Navy May 21, 2015. (Reuters/U.S. Navy)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/25/us-philippines-southchinasea-idUSKCN0RP1V520150925

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AFP to reopen Subic as Navy, PAF base DND: Irreversible crisis has reached tipping point

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Air Force and Navy will go ahead with a plan to open camps in Subic Bay Freeport facing the disputed South China Sea and West Philippine Sea even if a proposed American military presence doesn’t happen, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said.

Gazmin unveiled plans two years ago to open air force and navy camps at the Freeport so fighter jets and frigates can respond faster to any contingency in the disputed waters where the Philippines has been facing an assertive China, which claims most of the area.

The Philippines signed an expanded defense cooperation agreement with the US last year to allow allied American forces to temporarily station at camps including Subic, but the pact became uncertain after left-wing groups questioned its constitutionality at the Supreme Court.

While a US military presence in the camps would help, Gazmin said the government would proceed to construct the bases soon even if the court eventually decides against access for US troops.

The Philippines has scrambled to modernize its military, one of Asia’s weakest. It has bought 12 new South Korean fighter jets with the first two to be delivered later this year and stationed at Subic, Gazmin said.

Subic Bay, about 80 kilometers northwest of Manila, used to host Washington’s largest naval base outside the American mainland until it was closed down in 1992, ending nearly a century of US military presence.

Three years after, China seized a strategic reef also claimed by Manila, prompting Philippine senators to ratify the pact that allowed American forces to return for annual combat drills.

Roberto Garcia, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority chairman, said an airport and seaport will have a dual military-civilian use.

Businesses, including hotels and restaurants, would likely back the return of military personnel, he said.

American personnel from the USNS Mercy, a huge hospital ship docked in Subic for an annual humanitarian mission, swarmed shopping malls and restaurants. “There was a guy who brought two Christmas lanterns to his ship,” Garcia said.

Japan joins drill

Also in Subic Bay, Japan has joined US-led maritime humanitarian exercises the first time, as concerns over China’s growing assertiveness grow.

A Japanese navy replenishment ship was in Subic Bay, a former US naval base, to refuel a US Navy floating hospital en route to Vietnam for the seven-nation humanitarian mission.

It was the first time a Japanese navy ship has taken part in the humanitarian assistance and disaster relief drills although a flotilla of Japanese training vessels, including a submarine, makes annual port calls in Manila.

Rear Admiral Charles Williams, commander of US Seventh Fleet’s Task Force 73, said humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercises were becoming a regular component of military exercises in the Philippines.

“You are seeing in exercises ... a shift from strictly bilateral engagement to multilateral, which is why you see the Japanese here today,” Williams told journalists aboard USNS Mercy, one of two US hospital ships.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei also have overlapping claims. Japan and China also have conflicting claims in the East China Sea.

Williams said the presence of Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano, head of Japan’s Self-Defence Forces, “speaks volumes about their commitment to the region and their commitment to being part of a multilateral engagement.”

Kawano met Wednesday with Armed Forces chief General Hernando Iriberri, and Gazmin at Camp Aguinaldo, where he expressed interest in holding joint amphibious landing exercises and operations with Philippine marines.

In a meeting with Gazmin, Kawano also expressed interest in sharing information in the South China Sea and capacity building, particularly in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

Williams said humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations were “a great avenue towards increasing maritime stability and security in this region,” part of Washington’s rebalance to Asia policy.

While welcoming Japan’s military plans, Gazmin stressed a Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) is needed before any joint military undertaking can be allowed on Philippine soil.

“The defense secretary has welcomed Admiral Kawano’s interests in more activities with the Philippines, emphasizing that with regard to conducting such activities, a VFA with Japan would be needed,” DND spokesman Peter Paul Galvez said.

In the absence of the VFA, Japan and the Philippines would make do with a Memorandum on Defense Cooperation and Exchanges.

“Aside from defense equipment cooperation, Admiral Kawano also stressed the importance of capacity building cooperation with the Philippines, particularly on matters concerning Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response,” Galvez said.

Tipping point

China is taking the region to the “tipping point” of an “irreversible crisis” with its plan to build what it calls search and rescue facilities on its newly built artificial islands in the West Philippine Sea, Galvez also said yesterday.

“Maybe we should ask: ‘For whom are those search and rescue facilities for?’ Is it for our ships and installations that they are threatening to destroy?” Galvez said in a text message.

“It must be stopped otherwise it will be the tipping point that will plunge the entire region including the peace-loving Chinese communities into a deeper and irreversible crisis,” he said.

Galvez said such facilities are actually elements of China’s “island building militarization that needs to stop and be dismantled.”

“Regardless of what supposedly ‘good’ details the Chinese leadership informs the peace-focused and rules-based international community, they illegally and blatantly continue with their aggression,” he added.

“They are simply trying to cover their tracks. This is the worst stage of all, this is the militarization stage,” the defense official said.

To strengthen its claim in the South China Sea, China built artificial islands on seven reefs also being claimed by the Philippines.

The construction projects are on Panganiban (Mischief), Zamora (Subi), Kagitingan (Fiery Cross), Kennan (Chigua), Mabini (Johnson South), Burgos (Gaven) and Calderon (Cuarteron) Reefs.

The international community – including the United States and the European Union – has expressed alarm over China’s reclamation activities. Beijing is unperturbed.

Philippine officials said China’s reclamation is a violation of the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, which bars claimant states from engaging in activities than can complicate the situation.

On Tuesday, Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua announced that China is planning to build facilities on reclaimed reefs to support freedom of navigation, search and rescue efforts and scientific research. (Alexis Romero, Jaime Laude, AP, The Philippine Star)

PHOTO:
Cmdre. Primitivo Gopo is the new chief of the Naval Forces Western Mindanao. (Phil Star file photo)

http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2015/08/15/1488227/afp-reopen-subic-navy-paf-base-dnd-irreversible-crisis-has-reached

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Filipino, not US, bases to be established in Subic, says SBMA

The proposed air and naval military installations to be established here will not be permanent foreign bases but merely training and forward launching facilities to be operated by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

This was clarified by Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman Roberto Garcia in a briefing here amidst concerns raised by militant groups that Subic Bay will again be utilized by United States military forces.

“There is no truth that Subic Bay will again be occupied by US as its military base,” said Garcia.

He said that a 13-hectare space located at the end of the Subic Bay International Airport is all that has been allocated for the Philippine Air Force for the 12 fighter-trainer FA-50 jets to be acquired from South Korea.

In addition, the Alava Pier and Riviera Wharf here will be used by the Philippine Navy, which is transferring its major operation from Sangley Point in Cavite due to depth issues.

Garcia also added that because the proposed base will be established under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), US planes and ships are expected to call on Subic on a rotational basis.

Under EDCA, the Philippine government will allow US to build structures, store and position weapons, defense supplies and materiel, station troops, civilian personnel and defense contractors, transit and station vehicles, vessels, and aircraft for a period of 10 years.

The SBMA chairman believes that Subic Bay is the most strategic port in the country facing the West Philippine Sea that could be used to deploy navy and air forces in case of emergencies.

He said that two more countries — Australia and Japan — have expressed interest in entering into an agreement with the Philippine government for a similar Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) for the conduct of military training and exercises with the Philippine counterparts.

Garcia said that while the constitutionality of EDCA has been questioned before the Supreme Court, “It is coming to a point when you take a stand.”

He added that in the situation when a local fishing ground like the Panatag Shoal, which gives food and earnings to many Filipinos, is being intruded upon by foreign fishermen, “We have to take a stand.”

He stressed that SBMA will always cooperate with the national government in the interest of national security.

When asked if the locators might be hampered by the proposed military installations here, Garcia responded that nothing had been changed except that the locators are happy to hear of the proposal.

“Makikinabang din po kasi sila, especially those in the aircraft-related service providers, such as aircraft maintenance, fuel, catering, and others,” he said.

He also announced that among the preconditions of the agreement was that military installations should not prejudice the interest of the locators and that the priority that will be given to the military for the use of the facilities inside the Freeport would only be in time of national emergencies. (RAV/MPD-SBMA)

PHOTO:

-An FA-50 light combat aircraft from South Korea (left). The Philippines has purchased 12 of these estimated to be worth US$422 million and will be stationed in Subic Bay. (photo by globalaviationreport.com)

-Philippine frigates BRP Gregorio Del Pilar (middle) and BRP Ramon Alcaraz (right)
(c/o navaltoday.com & wikipedia,org)

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PHL to station warplanes, frigates at Subic, facing disputed South China Sea

The Philippines will station new fighter jets and two frigates at the former U.S. naval facility in Subic Bay from early next year, officials said, the first time the massive installation has functioned as a military base in 23 years.

Using Subic Bay would allow the Philippine air force and navy to respond more effectively to Chinese moves in the disputed South China Sea, security experts said. Subic Bay's deep-water harbor lies on the western side of the main Philippine island of Luzon, opposite the South China Sea.

"The value of Subic as a military base was proven by the Americans. Chinese defense planners know that," said Rommel Banlaoi, a Philippine security expert.

Once one of the biggest U.S. naval facilities in the world, Subic Bay was shut in 1992 after the Philippine Senate terminated a bases agreement with Washington at the end of the Cold War.

Manila converted the facility, which was never home to the Philippine military, into an economic zone.

Defense Undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino told Reuters the Philippine military signed an agreement in May with the zone's operator, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, to use parts of the installation under a renewable 15-year lease.

U.S. warships have called regularly at Subic Bay since 2000, but only to dock during exercises with the Philippine military or to use its commercial facilities for repairs and resupply.

Officials said once Subic Bay was a military base again, the U.S. Navy could have much greater access to it under a year-old agreement that gives U.S. troops broad use of local military facilities, although that deal is on ice after it was challenged in the Philippine Supreme Court.

Using Subic would be the latest Philippine military move to combat China's maritime ambitions.

Besides beefing up security cooperation with the United States, Japan and Vietnam, the military plans to spend $20 billion over the next 13 years to modernize its armed forces, among the weakest in Southeast Asia.

China, which claims nearly all of the South China Sea, said it was aware of reports of the arms buildup.

"We hope that the Philippines does more to benefit regional peace and stability," the defence ministry said in a statement faxed to Reuters.

AIR WING RELOCATING

Two FA-50 light attack fighters made by Korea Aerospace Industries, the first among a dozen ordered last year, would be based at the former Cubi Naval Station in Subic Bay from early 2016, two Philippine generals told Reuters. The two planes arrive in December.

The full squadron of FA-50s would be based at Subic, as well as the 5th Fighter Wing, which would relocate from a rundown base in northern Luzon, said the generals, who declined to be identified.

Two naval frigates would be stationed at Subic Bay's Alava Port.

The generals cited proximity to the South China Sea and the ease in making the base operational as reasons for the move.

"There are existing facilities in Subic Bay. We need only to refurbish them," one officer said.

Since Subic Bay hasn't functioned as a military base for more than two decades, it was not among eight locations the Philippine armed forces has said the U.S. military could use under the stalled 2014 defence deal.

The Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement would allow the U.S. military to deploy at Philippine bases for longer periods than under existing accords as well as build barracks and facilities for logistics purposes.

The agreement has been frozen since left-wing politicians challenged its constitutionality last year. The Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling in the coming months.

"(Subic) could be one of the locations ... under the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement," Batino said.

The Pentagon has said there were informal talks about Philippine base locations but that no plans would be implemented until the Supreme Court issues a ruling.

STRATEGIC SHOAL

Security experts noted that Subic Bay is only 145 nautical miles (270 km) from Scarborough Shoal, which China seized from Manila in 2012 after a three-month standoff with the Philippine navy.

The disputed Spratly islands, where China is building seven man-made islands, some with military facilities, lie further to the southwest of the shoal.

China might one day also turn Scarborough Shoal into an artificial island, which could make it harder for the Philippines to protect its 200-nautical mile (370 km) exclusive economic zone off Luzon, said Patrick Cronin, a regional expert at the Center for a New American Security in Washington.

"New Korean-built light fighter aircraft could reach Scarborough Shoal in just minutes, and maritime patrol aircraft or drones could eventually provide persistent coverage of Chinese movements in the area," Cronin said.

"A return to Subic Bay, this time led by the Philippine air force, would seem to be a prudent defensive response." (Manuel Mogato, Reuters)

PHOTO:
The guided missile cruiser ship USS Shiloh (CG-67) recently docked at the Alava pier of Subic Bay Freeport zone. The US ship is equipped with guided missiles and rapid-fire cannons and also carries two multi-purpose helicopters for anti-submarine warfare. (AMD/MPD-SBMA)

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/522950/news/nation/phl-to-station-warplanes-frigates-at-subic-facing-disputed-south-china-sea

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