THE Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said on Thursday that the grounding of the six remaining ageing Philippine Air Force (PAF) OV-10 Bronco bomber would not affect its ongoing law enforcement operations against rogue Moro Islamic Liberation Front members and other criminal elements in Mindanao.
According to AFP spokesman Col. Arnulfo Burgos, the Philippine Air Force (PAF) has other aerial resources that it can use in the absence of the bomber planes, which were ordered grounded after an OV-10 crashed at the Edwin Andrew Air Base in Zamboanga City.
“Despite the grounding of the OV-10s due to a mishap yesterday, law enforcement operations will continue. This will not affect our air ground operations because even without the OV-10 we still have the SF 260 marquett, we have the MG 520 attack helicopters, UHIHH helicopter,” Burgos said.
“We have air assets. They’re all there, there is no problem in terms of close air support on our ground troops,” he added.
PAF spokesman Lieutenant Col. Miguel Okol also gave assurances that the SF260 and MG 520 attack helicopters were capable replacements for the OV-10s.
Okol said that an investigation into the accidents on Thursday last week was ongoing.
“We want to know if it was pilot error or mechanical trouble,” he added, saying that the plane’s engines were refurbished two years ago.
On February 25, 2010, an OV-10 Bronco plane also crashed in Capas, Tarlac province, killing its two pilots on the spot.
Okol said that the Air Force had plans to acquire fighter jets to replace its decommissioned F-5s fighter planes. The F-5 fleet was grounded in May 2001 after one plane crashed in Pampanga province during a joint military exercise with the US military.
The Air Force spokesman was the last to fly solo and train in the F-5, while his father, retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Angel Okol Jr., was the first Air Force pilot to fly the F-5.
The F-5 jets, also called “Freedom Fighters,” were used to patrol the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea). They were also used by the famous PAF “Blue Diamonds” aerobatics team during air shows in the 1960s and 1970s.
