Air Force to buy fighter jets by 2011

[userfriendly]

press release lang yan. remember 2010 is an election year. so come 2011 new administration na. so new studies, new budget and new "negotiations"

even if they do buy new planes, i doubt they will have enough left over to fly them. planes need a lot of fuel and support equipment. anybody know how much 1 hour flying time cost?

[nurse_corrupted]

Ang tanong, kaya bang paliparin ng mga air force people yan. Baka mamaya gawing pang test drive tapos i crash lang. Sayang ang maraming petot niyan.

[niky]

I'd rate the F18 more than the F16... pricing should actually be similar, since the planes are of similar vintage, and our mechanics might be more familiar with the F18 if it's similar to the F5 (Both planes are Northrop-designed).

The US Navy went for the F/A 18 due to serviceability and reliability (yeah, they're the ones who insist on a twin-engine layout, for safety reasons). It's designed to be robust and extremely serviceable. Besides that, the F18 is an excellent fighter-bomber... with the ability to dogfight commendably while carrying a full bomb load. Let's see the F16 do that, eh?

An F35? Fat chance... but 48 million is a pretty good price for any kind of advanced fighter... that's only... hmmm... 2 billion pesos. Two wings of F35s... kasya sa 50 billion, with room for spares....

But I'd still rather we got a cheaper platform, so that those aircraft could cover more of the archipelago... We could buy twice as many F/A 18s for the price of those F35s, with spares, and they'd last us another 20-30 years... they're still up-to-date aircraft with a proven record in the Gulf against the sort of aircraft (modern Sukhois and MiGs) that they'd most likely encounter.

Maybe just fund one flight of F35s, about five or six, as a showcase, then spend the rest of the money on more realistic workhorses... one squadron of F18s (maybe half being secondhand, the others being brand new... but at brand-new prices, the F35 looks good...) then add more modern helicopters... Westland Lynxes for close air support in Mindanao and some heavy lifters for more menial duty.

My fear is that if they go for the best stuff available, those aircraft will end up rotting on the runways being unused. Better to have something more familiar and cheaper to operate.

[kur0sawa]

i'll go for MIG's than F figthers.

[shadow]

I'd rate the F18 more than the F16... pricing should actually be similar, since the planes are of similar vintage, and our mechanics might be more familiar with the F18 if it's similar to the F5 (Both planes are Northrop-designed).

The US Navy went for the F/A 18 due to serviceability and reliability (yeah, they're the ones who insist on a twin-engine layout, for safety reasons). It's designed to be robust and extremely serviceable. Besides that, the F18 is an excellent fighter-bomber... with the ability to dogfight commendably while carrying a full bomb load. Let's see the F16 do that, eh?

An F35? Fat chance... but 48 million is a pretty good price for any kind of advanced fighter... that's only... hmmm... 2 billion pesos. Two wings of F35s... kasya sa 50 billion, with room for spares....

But I'd still rather we got a cheaper platform, so that those aircraft could cover more of the archipelago... We could buy twice as many F/A 18s for the price of those F35s, with spares, and they'd last us another 20-30 years... they're still up-to-date aircraft with a proven record in the Gulf against the sort of aircraft (modern Sukhois and MiGs) that they'd most likely encounter.

Maybe just fund one flight of F35s, about five or six, as a showcase, then spend the rest of the money on more realistic workhorses... one squadron of F18s (maybe half being secondhand, the others being brand new... but at brand-new prices, the F35 looks good...) then add more modern helicopters... Westland Lynxes for close air support in Mindanao and some heavy lifters for more menial duty.

My fear is that if they go for the best stuff available, those aircraft will end up rotting on the runways being unused. Better to have something more familiar and cheaper to operate.

nice read but.....show me the money!!!

[theveed]

Screw that, they'll just crash it hehehehhee.

[Isuzoom]

how about transport planes like new generation C-130 and Black hawk choppers and lots of attack helicopters....

[Jun aka Pekto]

The US Navy went for the F/A 18 due to serviceability and reliability (yeah, they're the ones who insist on a twin-engine layout, for safety reasons). It's designed to be robust and extremely serviceable. Besides that, the F18 is an excellent fighter-bomber... with the ability to dogfight commendably while carrying a full bomb load. Let's see the F16 do that, eh?

Actually, the F-16 can and did although it wasn't the guns vs guns type of dogfight.
-------------

I think the biggest challenge of the PAF is maintaining the aircraft. The PAF had some 40+ F5s in its inventory. But, only a fraction were flyable at any given time. So, the track record of the PAF isn't really good. That's the trend they need to reverse.

That's why if I was to be the one to decide, I'd get the F-16 (the lowest cost) with strong logistics support, modern weaponry, and ample training time for the pilots. Well-trained pilots more than make up for any deficiency of the aircraft.

Add: Geeez. I can't believe the lack of faith of some people here with their own pilots. There were once a Philippine aerobatic team called the Blue Diamonds who were a match for other aerobatic teams around the world. If they can do it, why not now?.....

So defeatist. Tsk tsk. And people ask why Pinoys are looked down upon.

[v6dreamer]

press release lang yan. remember 2010 is an election year. so come 2011 new administration na. so new studies, new budget and new "negotiations"

even if they do buy new planes, i doubt they will have enough left over to fly them. planes need a lot of fuel and support equipment. anybody know how much 1 hour flying time cost?

According to the Media General News service that released by LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. by an AIR FORCE Pilot LT. Col Wade Tolliver that lag more than 2000 hrs in jets (The F-22 Raptor) said he had reason to worry. A mistake could be costly to operate. The jet he sat on for 2,000 hrs cost U.S $ 339,000,000.

[badkuk]

another good question is the maintenance cost for these high tech fighters. imho much better to get the older ones na mas simple ang maintenance. and andami ka pang makukuhang surplus parts as other nations retires their planes B)

i'm a bit dubious about super high tech thingies; they're usually very costly and hard to maintain. di ba nagkaproblema ung apache sa Desert Storm, 'coz the sand messed up their electronics? the world's best attack chopper, grounded by sand B)

the MiGs probably offer a better deal. But then again, alam mo naman dito...

with regard to investments and stability...while i do agree that we should be able to defend ourselves, i think the biggest headaches of foreign investors is politics, not lack of military strength.

then there's the price of oil. magkano na kaya per barrel come 2011? i hope they can develop an LPG-fed fighter B)