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PAF to deploy 26 UH-1H Hueys vs. Neps; Only 75% of PAF aircraft operational
Topic Started: Jul 6 2006, 12:49 PM (998 Views)
israeli
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http://newsinfo.inq7.net/breakingnews/nati...article_id=8429


Anti-insurgency drive gets boost as PAF deploys more Hueys
By Joel Guinto
INQ7.net
Last updated 12:05pm (Mla time) 07/06/2006


THE PHILIPPINE Air Force (PAF) will deploy 26 refurbished UH-1H helicopters against communist guerillas, a spokesman said Thursday.

United States President George W. Bush pledged the reconditioned helicopters to the Philippine military during his state visit to Manila in October 2003, PAF public information officer Major Augusto dela Peņa said.

"These [helicopters] will be deployed to tactical operation groups, most likely for internal security operations in Luzon," Dela Peņa told reporters in a chance interview at the PAF headquarters in Villamor Airbase.

When asked if the helicopters would be fielded against the communist New People's Army (NPA), Dela Peņa said: "Yes."

The choppers, more popularly known as Hueys, were used by the US military during the Vietnam and Korean wars during the 1960s.

Aside from being the workhorse of the military, the UH-1H has also gained notoriety for being involved in numerous accidents, including one on April 28, 2005 that killed former Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) director Raymundo Punongbayan and eight others after a Huey chopper they were riding crashed into the mountains of Gabaldon town, Nueva Ecija province north of Manila.

Dela Peņa said Bush originally promised 30 Hueys, but for unexplained reasons, only 26 will be shipped to the Philippines.

Of the 26, six will be refurbished by the PAF in Manila while the 20 will be reconditioned in the US before being shipped to the country, Dela Peņa said.

The six will arrive in the country by the end of the July while the remaining 20 are set to be turned over to the PAF before the year ends, he said.

Dela Peņa said the PAF had around 40-50 Hueys, 45 of which are operational.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo recently gave government security forces one billion pesos to finish off the 7,400-strong NPA in two years.

On Wednesday, the President announced that she would sign an executive order to provide for increased cooperation between the military and police to boost the government's anti-insurgency campaign.

The Hueys make up almost half of the 120 aircraft in the PAF inventory that also include MG520 attack helicopters, OV-10 Bronco bomber planes, S211 trainer jets which have been converted to fighter planes, and Sikorsky rescue choppers.

Of the 120 aircraft, about 75 percent are operational, Dela Peņa said.

"It's not the number of aircraft. It's how you maintain operational readiness. That's how you measure the efficiency of an air force," he said.
"To secure peace is to prepare for war." - Carl Von Clausewitz
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ctrlaltdel
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what are the details of the refurbishment? are the 26 helos upgraded to Huey II specs?

if so then those are very good Hueys then :thumb:
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saver111
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When will these arrive? :armytwisted:

http://pdff.sytes.net/index.php?showtopic=2850
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Justice for Daniel Lorenz Jacinto

HELP END PIRACY NOW!:
http://www.itfseafarers.org/petition.cfm
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jammerjamesky
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I am hoping we could get the AH-1 Fox Cobra that will be coming this early month of August. that's better pounding ability against the Reds in the mountainous areas. Plus night time operation is a boost to the PAF ability to delivery fire power support.

Plus some one should negotiate also the get those H-500's from the Danish Army. Nothing to worry about those brids because they are upraded and recieve a proper maintenance plus spare parts.
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