SEVERAL FA-50 fighter jets of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) have been sidelined in the past months due to maintenance and repair work, affecting the military’s capability to defend the country’s airspace.
Air Force spokeswoman Col. Ma. Consuelo Castillo could not say when the aircraft will return to “operational” status, noting it will depend on the arrival of spare parts that were ordered from the aircraft manufacturer, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI).
The FA-50s were acquired from KAI for P18.9 billion under the AFP modernization program. The delivery of the aircraft began in 2015 and was completed in 2017.
Earlier reports said only three of the 12 FA-50s in the PAF inventory are operational.
Castillo declined to say how many FA-50s are operational, for security reasons. “I don’t have clearance to divulge the exact number… Definitely, the operational (FA-50s) is more than that,” she said.
Castillo said the Air Force has ordered the needed spare parts from KAI but they are yet to be delivered.
“There is a slowdown of the supply chain because of the global events so the definitely the delivery of the spare parts from our proponent is definitely affected,” said Castillo, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We cannot say (when they will be back to operational status) but from our end, from the end of the defense (department) and from the end of the Air Force, we already communicated the spares that are needed and we’re just waiting for the delivery,” she said.
As to impact of the sidelining of the some of the FA-50s to external defense operations, Castillo said the Air Force is still able to perform its mission on that front.
“We are able to (perform) external defense (operations) but our capability is really limited,” said Castillo, adding that their FA-50s, even at full strength of 12, are not enough.
An Air Force official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the non-operational FA-50s have been sidelined since the second quarter of the year.
He requested that the number of operational and non-operational FA-50s be not published, saying “the enemy will know how many aircraft we are capable of fielding.”
“(But) there is no truth to the report that we only have three… We can say that we have more than three (operational FA-50s),” the official said.
He said “our (external defense) readiness has gone down” due to the sidelining of the some of the FA-50s.
The official said they are hopeful two of the non-operational aircraft will be restored to operational status by November.
The source said most of the sidelined FA-50s are actually due for periodic maintenance. The others, he said, are due for “time change items” because their components have failed.
