The Philippine Air Force must ramp up pilot training if it is to buy 20 or more multirole fighter jets as it modernizes and expands joint operations with its navy, a commander said yesterday.
A day earlier US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that the US “will do what is necessary” to see that the Philippines is able to resupply a ship on the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) that Manila uses to reinforce its claims to the atoll.
Sullivan said the US would prefer that the Philippines conducts the resupplies of the small crew on the warship Sierra Madre, which Manila beached in 1999 to reinforce maritime claims in the South China Sea contested by China.
Photo: AP
Speaking to the Aspen Security Forum conference in Colorado, Sullivan said the US has made clear to China that its mutual defense treaty with the Philippines applies to the Sierra Madre.
“The most important thing right now is to see de-escalation and to see the ability of the Philippines to do resupplies,” he said.
Meanwhile, Philippine pilots are taking part for the first time in multinational war games overseas, the Pitch Black war games involving 20 Indo-Pacific and European countries over a vast area of northern Australia.
The exercises are consuming a million liters of aviation fuel a day, as fighter jets from Australia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the US and the UK, among others, test war tactics and skills, organizers said.
The Philippines brought four of its 12 South Korean-built FA-50 fighter jets to the games and is assessing the capabilities of more advanced jets for its modernization programme, the contingent’s commander, Colonel Randy Pascua, said in Darwin.
Philippine Armed Forces Chief of Staff Romeo Brawner said this month that the government had approved a decision to buy “faster and more lethal” multirole jet fighters because the FA-50 was “not enough to defend our country,” although no decision had been made on the type or how many.
Pascua said the air force needs to close a “big technological gap” as it modernizes its fighter jets, including lifting pilot skills.
“If we have to acquire more than 20 multirole fighters, we really need to step up,” he said. “We are here to train and enhance our operational capability because we had lost capability for air defense for decades.”
Participation in Pitch Black would strengthen the Philippines’ international partnerships and “enforce our commitment to regional security and stability,” he said.
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