22/09/2022
FA-50 FIGHTER JET WAS BUY IN THE YEAR 2014-2016 (PNOY ADMINISTRATION) NOW WAS ONLY THREE FIGHTER JET WAS ACTIVE DUE TO SPARE PARTS ISSUES
Local defense reporter Manny Mogato has reported that only 3 out of the Philippine Air Force's 12 FA-50PH Fighting Eagle light combat aircraft are operational, with the rest unoperational due to lack of spare parts.
This has affected the PAF's ability to respond and defend the country's airspace due to lack of available fighters. Imagine 3 aircraft patrolling our whole country's vast airspace.
The issue is not regarding the PAF's maintenance capability but on poor logistics planning and delayed deliveries.
MaxDefense Philippines has always been pointing aboit this weakness in the Philippine Air Force that has been happening for decades, and not much improvement has been made.
We would not be surprised if the same issue is happening also on PAF's other new assets like the A-29B Super Tucano, Hermes 450 and 900, and S70i Black Hawk, since the logistics support and parts purchase covers the entire PAF.
And this would continue even when the PAF procures new Multirole Fighters, whether its F-16 Block 70 Viper of JAS-39C Gripen MS20. As long as the culture doesn't change.
Buying more FA-50s also won't solve this problem.
The problem is not keeping enough spare parts in its inventory, to the point that if an ordered spare part gets delayed delivery or missed the required date, the aircraft will be stuck on maintenance.
Remember the lack of spare engine several years ago when one of the new FA-50s had a bird strike, luckily on the ground? Since PAF has no spare engine, even a single one, it took almost a year before they can bring back the affected aircraft to operational status.
MaxDefense PH reported a few years ago about this poor maintenance and logistics culture of the PAF, but the PAF's Public Information Office took it negatively and told its personnel to not read our posts and using Google Forms to attack us. The PAF should do something about this maintenance and logsitics problem rather than attacking those who remind them of these problems that they never tackle and improve on.