By Rene Acosta
Conclusion
If the Philippine military had its way, it would want to procure more modern assets and equipment to protect and secure the country’s territory in the West Philippine Sea. But, because of financial constraints, the military could only content itself with a “modest” upgrade.
This admission was made by no less than Defense Secretary Voltaire T. Gazmin during the official acceptance by the Philippine Air Force (PAF) of two AgustaWestland AW-109 attack helicopters and eight Bell combat utility helicopters two weeks ago.
“The goal of really modernizing our Armed Forces is a long and painstaking process. This is so because the acquisition [of] material and equipment for operational readiness is constrained by our financial capability,” Gazmin said.
“We, therefore, need to persevere and be contented with what we can afford based on the priority for urgent operational needs and the financial affordability. This means that we have to be frugal and acquire reliable platform at very reasonable cost possible that’s allowed by meager financial resources,” he added.
With the arrival of additional assets for the PAF, Gazmin said the branch of the military that is tasked to secure the country’s airspace and is considered the first line of defense against territorial aggressors “can now forget the lingering and naughty joke that it is all air and no force.”
The Department of National Defense signed a contract in March last year for the procurement of eight Bell aircraft costing P4.8 billion. The two AW-109, which are part of the eight AW-109, were acquired through a contract that was inked in June 2013. The eight combat helicopter cost P3.44 billion.
The Philippine Navy also received two AW-109 helicopters, which cost P1.33 billion.
Gazmin said the availability of the combat-ready air platforms is an essential requirement to beef up the country’s air operations.
“The prime importance of having these types of aircraft will rationalize our need for combat utility and attack air platform for speedy movement and practicality in transporting troops and their equipment and supplies from one area to another,” he said.
“Indeed, we need mission-capable and ready-combat utility and attack helicopters for multiple air operations; in troop insertion and extraction; personnel and equipment-supply transport movement; in emergency evacuation of the sick and wounded; in disaster response, relief and rehabilitation operation; and in many other security and emergency mission and undertaking,” Gazmin added.
Other purchases
Aside from the helicopters, the military—particularly the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Air Force, which are the prime beneficiaries of the capability-upgrade program—are looking forward to the acquisition of other assets and equipment.
These are the six close air-support aircraft costing P4.97 billion; two long-range patrol aircraft, P5.98 billion; multipurpose attack craft, P864.32 million; two C-130 aircraft, P1.6 billion; two naval helicopters, P5.4 billion; lead-in fighter jets ammunition, P4.47 billion; two frigates, P18 billion; three air- surveillance radars, P2.68 billion; and night- fighting systems, P1.116 billion.
However, these assets and equipment will not be procured, unless the modernization program is signed by President Aquino.
While the President himself has trumpeted the upcoming acquisitions in his previous speeches and even before Congress, he appeared be to dilly-dallying in signing the modernization program when he asked for its review.
If all the planned acquisitions are undertaken by the government, Gazmin said President Aquino would leave a “modestly modernized” Armed Forces when he steps down from office in 2016.
Earlier, the military has acquired two US Coast Guard Cutters, which it christened BRP Ramon Alcaraz and BRP Gregorio del Pilar, the latter of which was made as the flagship of the Navy.
The military also expected the delivery this December of two jets from the squadron of FA-50 lead-in fighter jets that the Philippine government ordered from South Korea.
The acquisition of the 12 fighter jets costing P18 billion under a government-to-government deal is considered the centerpiece of the Aquino administration’s capability- upgrade program.
Also, the military has received one of the three C-295 medium-lift aircraft that it ordered from Airbus Defense and Space, boosting its lift and transport capability. The three aircraft have a contract price of P5.29 billion.
Late last month, it also accepted and commissioned two landing-craft heavy ships that were donated by Australia.
Challenges
While the AFP is modestly building up its capability primarily for territorial defense, its firepower still pales in comparison with its neighbors, like Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia, which already have submarines.
This is in sharp contrast to the standing of the country’s Armed Forces many years ago, when the Philippines was considered a military powerhouse in Asia, securing its skies with F-5 fighter jets years before Japan could acquire such an aircraft.
In fact, the Scarborough Shoal, which was occupied by China in 2012, used to be a target range for F-5s and other aircraft of the Air Force and the Americans.
The Philippine military’s might was unrivaled in the region, so much so that when former President Ferdinand Marcos declared the country’s ownership of the islands in the West Philippine Sea, not even one among the current claimants, including China, protested.
Experts said the decline of the country’s military capability was the result of years of neglect by succeeding administrations in the area of defense of security. They also blamed the absence of a national security policy, which could have foreseen the emergence of problems now confronting the Philippines in the West Philippine Sea.
According to one senior military official, the absence of a national security policy covering the West Philippine Sea showed the “complete failure” of the National Security Council. Also, the military was partly to be blamed for the decline in its firepower.
“The Armed Forces of the Philippines is also structured as a continental force, rather than being maritime-oriented,” a military paper said, noting that the AFP leadership glossed over the fact that the country is an archipelagic nation.
“The campaign against the communist insurgents and Muslim separatists allowed the growth of the Army, at the expense of the Navy and the Air Force, whose capabilities almost reached block obsolescence. It was only when the Chinese began to show their assertiveness in the West Philippine Sea that the government took a serious look at the decrepit state of defense capabilities,” it added.
The paper said that in the defense establishments, four decades of protracted internal-security threat forced the military to focus its efforts on tactical issues rather than on strategic agenda.
“The insurgency conflict has produced more ‘warriors’ than strategic thinkers and leaders. The security umbrella that the US provided with the establishment of the bases in Subic Bay and Clark Field relegated the development of Philippine maritime-defense capabilities in favor of equipment necessary to address insurgency,” it said.
“It also promoted a ‘mendicant policy’ in defense-capability buildup and developed mediocrity in the organization. The overall effect, however, was a dearth in strategic thinking in the organization,” the paper added.
Image credits: AP