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Sunday, January 1, 2023 Vol. 18 No. 78
P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 12 pages | 7 days a week
PAF’s T-129 ‘Atak’ helicopters now ready to greet insurgents, terrorists with its immense firepower, aerial agility as a brand New Year starts.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. inspects one of the two Turkish-made T-129 "Atak" helicopters that were formally blessed and commissioned into Air Force service last December 9. The two aircraft were commissioned at the Malacañang Park. Photo courtesy of the Office of the President.
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By Rex Anthony Naval
HE Philippine Air Force (PAF) will be literally greeting communist insurgents and terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group terrorists literally with a “massive bang” this 2023, as its capability to conduct close-air support has been greatly enhanced with the arrival of two more Turkish-made T-129 “Atak” helicopters, bristling with hightech and sophisticated weaponry, and effectively increasing to four the number of these rotary-winged aircraft in its inventory. PESO exchange rates n US 56.1200
Armed with a three-barreled 20mm automatic cannon in the c hin a nd a prec ision-g u ided launcher (Cirit), which fires a laser-guided 70mm rocket, and certified to be capable of firing air-to-ground and air-to-air missiles, the T-129 is an intimidating aircraft, especially with weapons that could fire in one brutal gigantic crescendo. The T-129s are the first purposely-acquired attack helicopter of the PAF, which has grown accustomed to flying lightly armed g unships for ground-support missions. Lightly armed in this case means being armed with only the conventional .50 caliber machine guns and rocket launchers firing largely unguided projectiles.
Mission: Hunt and obliterate
WHILE deadly to its intended targets, PAF helicopters armed with these weapons configuration simply cannot compete with the
more modern and heavily armed T-129s as this aircraft is designed purposely to hunt and obliterate ground targets. The Turkish Aerospace Industries T-129 was acquired by the PAF with the approval of the Department of National Defense (DND) as part of the efforts to beef up its fleet of lightly armed helicopters like the McDonnell Douglas MG-520 and AgustaWestland 109E, which are being used for counterterrorism and ground support missions. The first two T-129 units were delivered last March 9, while the second batch of two were delivered on November 24, and ceremonially blessed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. at the Malacañang Palace last December 9. All four T-129 attack helicopters are assigned to the 15th Strike Wing based in Sangley Point, Cavite. The remaining two units are expected to be delivered to the PAF by 2024. The budget for the six T-129s is placed at around P13.8 billion.
The DND, then headed by Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, signed the contract for acquisition in July 2020.
Ready for dispatch THE PAF’s T-129 is a twin-engine, tandem seat, multi-role, all-weather attack helicopter based on the Agusta A-129 Mangusta platform. The first two of the T-129s are now “fully mission capable.” Meanwhile, the first two T-129s, delivered last March 9, were categorized by the PAF in May as also fully mission capable. This means that the air assets are ready for their role as “strike aircraft, with the crew and the pilots done with the training and ready to be employed in areas needed.” The two T-129s were declared fully mission capable shortly after the Sanay Tudla 2 exercises, held from May 16 to 24 at the Col. Ernesto Rabina Air Base in Capas, Tarlac. However, the Air Force did not provide the geographic location of the two attack helicopters for security reasons. But it would be safe to say that these
aircraft are near those areas where the military is conducting constant security operations. PAF spokesperson Col. Ma. Consuelo Castillo earlier said the T-129 project is under Horizon 2 of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Modernization Program. The aircraft were procured using government-togovernment mode under Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.
T-129 missions, roles under PAF CASTILLO said the T-129s will be utilized for territorial defense, aerial surveillance and reconnaissance, counter-insurgency combat operations and combat support operations. “Its roles are close air support, precision strike, deep strike, suppression of enemy air defense, security/urban warfare and air-to-air warfare. T-129 is a twin-engine, tandem seat, multirole, all-weather attack helicopter,” she added. Continued on A2
n japan 0.4174 n UK 67.4394 n HK 7.1996 n CHINA 8.0372 n singapore 41.5796 n australia 37.8024 n EU 59.5545 n KOREA 0.0441 n SAUDI arabia 14.9335 Source: BSP (December 29, 2022)