THE ongoing modernization program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), which is being undertaken in three phases, is attracting the world’s top suppliers of defense and military equipment, including Lockheed Martin, and a roster of other American firms.
The ambitious modernization program is indicative of the rising defense and military spending in Southeast Asia, a region that has already positioned itself in the center of the Asia Pacific, as the top buyer and importer of military hardware.
Southeast Asia’s military spending binge, including by the Philippines, has prompted Lockheed Martin and other top defense contractors in the world to remain upbeat, business-wise, in the region, notwithstanding the raging trade war between the United States and China.
Big player
Lockheed Martin’s optimism was evident in a recent interview with Randall Howard, the company’s aeronautics director for business development and the man behind the business success of the F-16 fighter jet, one of the core products of the American company dubbed as the world’s largest defense contractor.
For the first time in three years, the American defense behemoth showed up at the defense and security exhibition in the country, which also attracted top military suppliers from Asia and Europe and a host of arms-exporting countries, including Israel and Czechoslovakia.
In the US and worldwide, Lockheed Martin, whose major industry portfolios are in aeronautics, missiles and fire systems, space and rotary and mission systems, employs at least 100,000 workers, with a revenue take of $51 billion.
Part of the earnings came from the region, and therefore, there should be no reason why Southeast Asia should not remain in its crosshairs, not with Manila’s continued buildup of its capability along with its neighbors’ sustained effort to further beef up their defense.
Keeping the tradition
Three months ago President Duterte jump-started the Second Horizon, the second phase of the military’s modernization, by allotting P300 billion for its procurement program, a project that Lockheed Martin and other suppliers wanted to be a part of, one that included succeeding phases.
For one, the American defense contractor wanted to continue the American tradition, or the western system in the Philippine military, something that still goes on or is seen even in the armies of its regional neighbors.
While Duterte has ordered the military to scout for other possible sources of its major assets and equipment like Russia, the AFP’s training, indoctrination and even equipage come mostly from the West.
F-16 factor
Lockheed Martin has offered to develop the air superiority of the Philippine Air Force, or at least position it on the radar of its neighbors, by delivering the F-16, the most advanced fourth-generation fighter jet in the world, with the proper arrangement with the US government.
Howard said that, while the acquisition cost of the plane is slightly higher, the F-16 gives value for the military money as compared with the South Korean-made FA-50, a squadron of which is already at the disposal of the Philippine Air Force.
The FA-50 is an earlier spinoff of the F-16 where its design was based. It could not, however, match the avionics, design, capability and the entire system of the American fighter from which it was copied.
The transition from FA-50 to the F-16, Howard said, should be a progression for Filipino fighter pilots as the South Korean jet should have provided them with the much-needed training already.
Howard, who was formerly with the US Air Force before joining Lockheed Martin, said the F-16 will catapult the Philippine Air Force into the future as it even incorporates some of the features of the F-35 fighter jet, including its radar and avionics systems.
The F-35 is one of Lockheed Martin’s fifth-generation fighter planes. The other, the F-22 Raptor, is not being marketed yet outside of the US, even as Australia, South Korea and Japan are already in the process of acquiring their F-35s.
While Howard would not want to dwell on the issue of the West Philippine Sea dispute in relation to the country’s air superiority buildup, he pitched the F-16’s capability, which, he said, brings the whole situational awareness into its cockpit once it is up in the air.
Operational benefit
International media have reported that when talks about the possible offer of the F-16 to the Philippines cropped up, China reportedly called Lockheed Martin through the back channel to block any possible sale of the plane to Manila.
“There’s no such thing,” Howard said, adding that he should know, being the man directly in charge of the fighter jet’s business side.
Around the world, at least 4,600 of the highly advanced fighter jet have been sold and are being used by the air forces of Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea and Indonesia.
Its use by Manila’s allies, according to Howard, should assure the AFP of the operational benefit of F-16 for the military, including on the supply, financial and communication side.
Slovakia, which put the order on the F-16 two months ago, evaluated the multirole fighter against the Gripen of Sweden’s Saab and declared the American fighter plane is way above its Swedish counterpart.
Lockheed Martin said the F-16 should be a good pair for the Black Hawk helicopter since the military is in need of attack helicopters as a result of the aborted contract and delivery of attack choppers by Bell.
A modified version of the Black Hawk was used by a US SEAL team that hunted and killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011.
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