PHILIPPINE AIR FORCE (PAF) FA-50PH jet fighters will conduct “dissimilar air combat tactics” (DACT) with Hawker Hunter aircraft of the US Navy on Friday, the last day of the two-week “Balikatan” exercises.
“The last flight of the FA-50s of the 5th Fighter Wing with the Hawker Hunters of the US Navy will be on April 8, they will do DACT,” said PAF spokesperson, Col. Maynard Mariano, in a message to the Philippine News Agency Thursday.
He added that these exercises will have two Korea Aerospace Industries FA-50PH planes going head-to-head with Hawker Hunter transonic aircraft which the US Navy contracted for this purpose.
DACT refers to training where two dissimilar aircraft are pitted against each other in air-to-air combat.
Winners are generally the fighter teams who can successfully manage to get the so-called “simulated kill” via the opposing jet fighters’ air-to-air missile or gunnery systems.
Mariano said the FA-50PH and Hawker Hunter aircraft will conduct “four sorties” on the said training.
Aside from the DACT, PAF and participating US air units also conducted defensive counter-air, and offensive counter-air exercises along with tactics in the fighter and missile engagement zones in the past two weeks, the PAF spokesperson added.
Participating in these exercises are the American Lockheed Martin F-16s “Fighting Falcon” fighter aircraft and the Patriot surface-to-air missile system, and UH-60 “Black Hawk” while the Air Force deployed the FA-50PHs and the anti-aircraft units of the PAF’s 960th Air and Missile Defense Group.
Participants in this year’s “Balikatan” exercises are 3,800 members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and 5,100 US military personnel — the largest number of combined personnel of the two militaries in the annual exercise since the start of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic in 2020. (PNA)
