PRESIDENT Marcos Jr. is due to lead today, Tuesday, the acceptance, turnover and blessing of ground-based air defense system (GBADS) and C-295 transport aircraft from foreign defense contractors.
Marcos will be accompanied by top military and defense officials in the ceremony that will be held at the Basa Air Base in Floridablanca, Pampanga.
The GBADS will be received from the Rafael Advance Systems Ltd of Israel, will be turned over to the Philippine Air Force and subsequently blessed.
In 2019, the defense department awarded Rafael a contract worth more than P6 billion to supply the military Surface-to-Air Python and Derby or SPYDER mobile air-defense missiles.
Earlier reports said the first two batteries were due to be delivered by Rafael during the last quarter of this year. The third and last one is due for delivery next year.
A battery is usually composed of three or more missile launchers.
The system is seen to greatly improve the military’s capability in protecting the country’s airspace.
Air Force spokeswoman Col. Ma Consuelo Castillo said the GBADS is designed “to protect critical installations, land-based fixed assets, mobile platforms and friendly forces from aerial threats such as combat aircraft, attack helicopters, unmanned air vehicles, incoming missiles, guided munition, and rockets. In certain cases, it may also be used to neutralize surveillance threats.
“With a dependable GBADS, we can ensure that in situations when enemy aerial assets have infiltrated the national territory, a layer of defense is still available to directly protect vital assets on the ground for continuous defense operations,” said Castillo.
Castillo said the GBADS arrived in the country last September.
The C-295 medium tactical transport aircraft to be received, turned over and blessed is the second of the three aircraft being acquired from the Airbus Defense and Space for P5.2 billion, also under the AFP modernization program.
The first unit was delivered last March. The third one might be delivered next year.
The Air Force currently has four C-295 aircraft in its inventory.
These aircraft complement several heavy-lift C-130 aircraft in the performance of various missions, including the transport of troops and equipment and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
