Aviation Week du 16/02/12
Manille souhaite acquérir des avions de patmar et des avions de combat dont elle est privée depuis 2005: 24 F-16A/B d'occasion pour être précis
Manille souhaite acquérir des avions de patmar et des avions de combat dont elle est privée depuis 2005: 24 F-16A/B d'occasion pour être précis
The Philippine air force is also seeking to buy maritime patrol aircraft. Some of the models being considered include the Alenia ATR 42MP, Hawker Beechcraft King Air 350ER, Airbus CN235, Viking Air Twin Otter and Bombardier Q-series.
The country’s leaders have also talked up the prospect of the Philippines once again procuring fighter aircraft. The Philippines has had no fighter aircraft since 2005 when it retired its last Northrop F-5.
Philippines President Benigno Aquino, 3rd, disclosed in December that he will be visiting the U.S. early this year and plans to ask U.S. President Barack Obama for military assistance. “I will meet President Obama next year, perhaps by April. I will remind him of our strategic partnership and he might remember that we don’t have a fighter [jet],” Aquino said in a speech to Philippine air force personnel late in 2011. He added that he will ask the U.S. to donate used fighter aircraft to the Philippines, under an arrangement similar to that between the U.S. and Indonesia. The U.S. last year agreed to donate 24 second-hand Lockheed Martin F-16A/Bs to Indonesia, which could then pay to upgrade them to the C/D standard.