THE military boosted its transport and mobility capabilities with the blessing and formal turnover on Monday of one of the three C295 medium lift fixed-wing aircraft ordered from European defense supplier Airbus Defence and Space.
Top defense and military officials, led by Defense Secretary Voltaire T. Gazmin and the Armed Forces chief of staff, Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr., led the commissioning of the new aircraft.
“Air transport has always been an essential part of our air operations in the military. It plays a key role in the operational readiness of the Air Force, especially in the movement by air of troops, and equipment and supplies,” Gazmin said in his speech.
“Thus, the turnover of the Casa C295 before us now lends reality to the urgency of possessing this type of aircraft in the Air Force inventory,” he added.
The defense chief said the archipelagic nature of the country’s territory underscores the importance of the aircraft’s procurement, because the most expeditious manner of ferrying and transporting soldiers, light vehicles and equipment from one island to another is through aircraft.
Gazmin said the second C295 is expected to be delivered by February next year, and the third one by June, also next year.
He said the first C295 was delivered five months earlier than scheduled.
The three aircraft were procured at a total cost of P5.29 billion.
The three C295s will beef up the three C-130 “Hercules” and two Fokker F-27 “Friendship” planes that are in the inventory of the Air Force.
Gazmin said the acquisition of the Casa aircraft was part of the ongoing efforts to modernize the military.
“The goal of modernizing our Armed Forces would certainly be a long and painstaking journey. Our minimum requirements on materials and equipment for operational readiness, based on their cost are certainly constrained by our financial capability,” he said.
“Nevertheless, we have to persevere and be contented with what we can afford based on the priorities of our urgent operational needs and financial affordability. Necessarily, we have to take small but definite and useful steps towards practical modernity,” he added.