The Government of the Philippines is considering the purchase of a number of Indonesian-made military aircraft following a visit of the Indonesian Vice Defence Minister who arrived on one of the aircraft that the country is promoting. The Defense Undersecretary, Pio Lorenzo Batino, said that they are making preparations to acquire the aircraft through a government to government transaction with Indonesia. The aircraft is valued at US$28 million each. It is rumoured that one aircraft will be deployed to the Navy for long-range reconnaissance missions and anti-submarine warfare. According to the Indonesian Ministry of Defence, the common use of the aircraft in the ASEAN region would enhance cooperation among members and significantly reduce maintenance and operational costs of the aircraft. The Indonesian Air Force currently has 9 units on order and while it has already taken delivery of 2 aircraft, it is willing to allocate 3 delivery slots to the Philippine Air Force in order to help expedite delivery. All of the ordered units are due by 2015. On the other hand, Vietnam has ordered 5 units of CN-295 from Airbus Military, but later reduced to 3. When meeting with Sjafrie in Hanoi, Vietnam, Vietnamese Defence Minister General Phung Quang Thanh, said that his country needed an aircraft that can deploy and transport troops, a rear cargo door and has a maximum carrying capacity of 10 tons. Explicitly, Phung Quang expressed interest in the CN-295 aircraft that meet the requirements by the country. According to Budiman, the transfer of production of the CN-295 aircraft orders from Airbus Military Vietnam to Indonesia PT DI is very possible because there has been collaboration between Airbus Military and PT Indonesian Aerospace to manufacture the aircraft. (PHOTO) CN295 military transport aircraft before it takes off from Villamor Airbase in Pasay City, Philippines. The CN-295 aircraft is an upgraded version of the CN-235 aircraft, a medium range twin engined transport aircraft that was developed jointly by Indonesian manufacturer IPTN and CASA of Spain. It is primarily used in military roles for surveillance, air transport, and maritime patrol. The aircraft is suitable for a wide-range of humanitarian and defence missions that are of importance to Asean nations. The Turkish military is currently the largest user of the CN-235 with 61 aircraft. The CN-295 aircraft which is of interest to the Philippine Air Force was developed in 1995 as a stretched version of the CN-235.
Posted on: Wed, 06 Nov 2013 09:08:24 +0000
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