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PAF F-5 Fleet; Status / Retirement
Topic Started: Jul 13 2004, 11:47 AM (12,202 Views)
Tora^2
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Quote:
 
Captain Ephraim G. Suyom, spokesman for the Air Defense Wing at Basa Air Base in northern Pampanga province said five of the remaining 10 F5s were still "serviceable" but all of them could be used "in case of war."

"In extreme emergency, you do what you have to do," he said.


Not all of them are pronounced dead and ready to be scrapped. Some of them lie asleep in some hangar waiting for the Golden Oppurtunity to see action once again.

Should the need for their services arise once more(like if Flankers start bombing Pag-Asa Island) in these trying times, some of them can be resucitated with parts of their fallen brothers and even joined by their $100 kin from RoK.

That is if a C5B comes flying into Clark with an emergency delivery of F16A/Bs, CF18s or even JAS39s with related munitions addressed to the Air Defense Wing, Cesar F Basa AB, PAF

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jvelarde
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http://news.inq7.net/top/index.php?index=1&story_id=51968


Air Force decommissions its 40-year-old fighter jets
First posted 10:55pm (Mla time) Oct 01, 2005
By
Agence France-Presse


FLORIDABLANCA-- (UPDATE) The Philippine Air Force on Saturday decommissioned its 40-year-old F5 jets that formed the core of the country's air defense and also saw action against communist and Muslim rebels and military mutineers.
A lone F-5 jet, piloted by Brigadier General Manuel Natividad, the commander of the air defense wing, taxied into its hangar in Basa airbase north of Manila to symbolize the end of the service.

The air force said the last 10 remaining fighter-bombers were too old and too expensive to maintain in view of the shift in military resources to tackling internal defense rather than external threats.

The first 23 brand new jets were acquired in 1965 from the United States under a bilateral military assistance pact, making the Philippines the first Southeast Asian country to have supersonic fighters.

Since then the jets have been used extensively to patrol areas claimed by the Philippines in the disputed Spratly Islands chain and the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea.

The jets were used to back soldiers fighting communist insurgents in the central and northern Philippines and Muslim separatist rebels and the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group in the south. They blasted military rebel positions at an airbase south of Manila during a coup attempt in 1989.

The whole F5 fleet has been grounded since May 2001 following a crash of one of the jets during a joint military exercise with the U.S. military.

The subsonic Augusta AS-211 jet trainer and light attack aircraft will temporarily perform external defense duties, the air force said.

Captain Ephraim G. Suyom, spokesman for the Air Defense Wing at Basa Air Base in northern Pampanga province said five of the remaining 10 F5s were still "serviceable" but all of them could be used "in case of war."

"In extreme emergency, you do what you have to do," he said.

The acquisition of the F-5 jets in 1965 made the Philippines the first country in the region to operate supersonic fighters but due to a lack of money, the country now has one of the most primitive armed forces in the region.

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MSantor
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This is old news. Check out the thread on "$100 F-5As from South Korea", where you see the same article discussed.

"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." - Henry Ford

"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm."
- Winston Churchill


"If everyone is thinking alike, someone isn't thinking"- Gen. George S. Patton
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City Hunter
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Question. Are all the PAF F8s sold already (except of course the display piece)?
Command is about authority, about appointment to a position. Effective leadership is different. It must be learned and practiced in order for it to rise to the level of art. You must love those you lead before you can be an effective leader. You can certainly command without that sense of commitment but you cannot lead without it; and without leadership, command is a hollow experience. .. a vacuum often filled with mistrust and ignorance.

Gen. Eric K. Shinseki
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MSantor
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Check out this link. I hope it answers your question. Maybe you can even get one of your very own! :armywink:

http://www.hueybravo.net/Airforcepage/f-8sale.htm
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." - Henry Ford

"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm."
- Winston Churchill


"If everyone is thinking alike, someone isn't thinking"- Gen. George S. Patton
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City Hunter
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With Valentina still in Malacanang she'll probably commission a new flying unit - the Mananang-Gals!

Going back to the subject. I asked about the F8s as I want to factor them in a paper I'm planning to drop to the senator(s) concerned.
Command is about authority, about appointment to a position. Effective leadership is different. It must be learned and practiced in order for it to rise to the level of art. You must love those you lead before you can be an effective leader. You can certainly command without that sense of commitment but you cannot lead without it; and without leadership, command is a hollow experience. .. a vacuum often filled with mistrust and ignorance.

Gen. Eric K. Shinseki
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flipzi
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F-5 takes last flight; RP external air defense down and out

First posted 01:21am (Mla time) Oct 02, 2005
By Tonette Orejas, Fe B. Zamora
Inquirer News Service


Editor's Note: Published on page A1 of the October 2, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


BASA AIR BASE, Pampanga – As music from the soundtrack of the movie "Top Gun" blared, the fighter jet taxied toward a hangar in this air base to mark the retirement of the country's 37 F-5s, once dubbed the kings of Philippine skies.

Shortly after, retired Brig. Gen. Angel Okol Jr., who was the first to fly the twin-engine supersonic plane for the Air Force in 1965, and Maj. Carlos Evangelista, the last to steer it in 2002, stood beside the aircraft, giving it a last look and posing for posterity.

Called "Freedom Fighter," the 46-foot-long F-5s arrived in October 1965, launching the Philippines into the supersonic age. It was the first Asian country to acquire the planes and, until the '70s, the Philippine Air Force would be the envy of its neighbors.

With the sun glimmering on the plane's wings, Okol (known by his call sign "Cobra 30") and Evangelista ("Cobra 389") lingered and exchanged memories of combat missions.

But their memories were tinged with sadness for their poorly equipped Air Force.

"I feel very lucky to have flown it because to me it played a key role in defending the country's sovereignty," Okol said.

F-5s, he recalled, saw action against secessionists in Mindanao, where he was chief of the then Regional Air Command.

"The F-5s saw big combat operations. They carried all kinds of armaments, except napalm bombs. They carried more weapons like 20-mm cannons," Okol said.

"I feel sad that this major fleet is retired but [economy-wise], it is a correct move because I learned that the imported parts are very difficult to obtain now," he said.

They defended Cory

It was an F-5 piloted by Maj. Danilo Atienza that on Dec. 1, 1989, defended the administration of then President Corazon Aquino against a coup attempt, by bombing and strafing a Sikorsky helicopter, seven T-28s and a fuel depot in Sangley Point to deprive rebel soldiers of air power.

Atienza died in the assault.

The F-5s, too, turned the tide of battle against Abu Sayyaf bandits in 2001.

Brig. Gen. Manuel Natividad, who made the final flight as chief of the Air Defense Wing, said the decommissioning rites for the F-5s-attended by other retired pilots-also symbolized uncertainty for Basa Air Base and the PAF in general.

Fightertown without fighters

Without the F-5s, Natividad said, "Fightertown" – the label airmen had given the base – was now without its mighty wings.

"Comparatively, we are really down as far as air defense is concerned," Natividad said.

The air strength and role of Fightertown in external defense would have to be addressed, he said.

"If not, [it] will affect the air force significantly," he said.

Natividad also expressed concern over the transfer of skills and knowledge from one generation of pilots to another.

He said he was envious of other Southeast Asian countries that were not cutting defense spending and were maintaining air defense superiority amid the economic crisis.

Decision makers, he said, should realize the "need to keep a fighter force."

His voice cracked as he talked of the F-5s: "From Basa it first flew. To Basa it flew last."

End of an era

The meaning of the occasion was not lost on Lt. Gen. Jose Reyes, PAF commander.

"We have just witnessed the end of an era in the Air Force," he said, adding this was "met with a heavy heart at Fightertown."

The arrival of the F-5s ended the bi-winged, fabric-covered, hand-cranked airplanes in the PAF.

From 1965 to 1998, the government received 37 F-5 jets from the United States.

The five S-211 Augusta, which the 5th Tactical Fighter Group operates, are a poor match to the F-5s, Natividad said.

Okol, 75, and his five fellow pilots [he identified them only as Maj. De Leon, Major Franco, Capt. Alegarbes, Capt. Andrews and Capt. Laquindanum] helped the PAF achieve mastery in flying F-5s.

Together with a 50-member maintenance crew, Okol's team trained as combat pilots and instructors at Williams Air Force Base in Texas in 1965.

Pining for F-5

Natividad said the lifespan of an F-5 was 15 years but the PAF was able to lengthen it by diligent maintenance and repair.

The 36 fighter planes needed to replace the F-5s cost $35 million (P1.96 billion) each, Reyes said.

Okol retired in 1982 and moved to Philippine Airlines where he worked until 1995. All those years, he said, he yearned to fly the F-5 again.

His son, Miguel Ernesto, a PAF captain, also flew the aircraft.

Evangelista, 39, said that although the F-5s were old, they flew fast and high during good weather.

His last flight was in May 2002. His wingman, the late Capt. Daniel Policarpio, lost control of the machine and crashed into a school in Mabalacat, Pampanga, while on a training maneuver in the Balikatan exercises.

All the 10 F-5s at that time had since been grounded.

'Older than me'

Their gray paint fading and chipping off, nine F-5s stood solemnly side by side at the air base. Tin foil covered their cockpit canopies, protecting them from scratches.

Save for an occasional visit from a mechanic, who would "cannibalize" them for parts to be used to keep other F-5s flying, these planes here had been left untouched since 2002.

"I have no orders what to do with these. We are just here to guard them," Lt. Elesio Asistol, maintenance officer, told the Inquirer.

Lack of funds and a shift from external to internal security have been cited as reasons for finally removing the F-5s from the PAF's inventory of air assets.

"Yes," Evangelista smiled sheepishly, "the plane is actually older [than me]."

http://news.inq7.net/nation/index.php?index=1&story_id=52003
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Yaberdaber
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Looks like we'll be seeing more helo's now that the f-5's are gone...

Govt junks fighters to buy helicoptersPublished: Saturday, 1 October, 2005, 10:56 AM Doha Time

MANILA: The Philippines has shifted its military focus to communist and Muslim rebels from external threats, the air force said yesterday as it junked its fleet of ageing jet fighters in favour of buying more helicopters.
Lieutenant-Colonel Restituto Padilla, an air force spokesman, said the remaining five of its 34 F-5A/B planes will be formally decommissioned today at an airbase north of Manila after 40 years as the country’s primary air defence tool

full article
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brassballs
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Brigadier General Angel Okol (L), the first pilot to fly the F-5 fighter jet in the Philippine and the last to fly it, Major Carlos Evangelista ®, salute as the jet is prepared to be taxied to its hangar at Basa airbase before it is formally decommissioned. The decommissioning of the last of these 40-year-old fighter planes will leave the country without any aerial defense aircraft. The cash-strapped Philippine military, which is battling communist rebels and Muslim extremists, does not have the funds to buy new fighter jets(AFP/Jay Directo)
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A Filipino boy looks back at one of the remaining five 34 F-5A/Bs aircrafts during the decommissioning ceremony at an airbase in the Floridablanca town of Pampanga city, north of Manila, October 1, 2005. The Philippines has shifted focus to defeating communist and Muslim rebellions rather than guarding against external threats, the military said on Friday as it junks its fleet of fighters in favour of acquiring more helicopters. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco
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Italian-made S-211 trainer jets refitted with machine guns, rockets and bombs fly during a decommissioning ceremony of the remaining five 34 F-5A/Bs at an airbase in the Floridablanca town of Pampanga city, north of Manila, October 1, 2005. The Philippines has shifted focus to defeating communist and Muslim rebellions rather than guarding against external threats, the military said on Friday as it junks its fleet of fighters in favour of acquiring more helicopters. The S-211 trainer jets would fill in the gap left by the F-5s. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco
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A Philippine airforce security escorts one of the remaining five 34 F-5A/Bs aircrafts during a decommissioning ceremony at an airbase in the Floridablanca town of Pampanga city, north of Manila, October 1, 2005
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A Philippine Air Force ground crew gives a hand signal to an F-5 jet to stop during its decommissioning ceremony Saturday, Oct. 1, 2005 at the Floridablanca Air Base, north of Manila.
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Shock the monkey....!Posted Image
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flipzi
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are the missiles fitted on the wingtips of the F5s ... AIM9s or just dummies?
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