CEBU, Philippines – The Air Force Unit of the Armed Forces of the Philippines is expecting new aircrafts that will help maximize their reach in giving relief aid to different areas prone to disasters.
After the super typhoon Yolanda hit and washed off some parts of the Visayas last year, Lieutenant Colonel Enrico Canaya, Philippine Air Force spokesman, said the unit will have brand new aircrafts next year.
The unit expects to receive eight Augusta Westland AW109 aircrafts and BELL 412 helicopters that are all brand new. As of now, modernization of air assets is still ongoing, Canaya said.
“Yung modernization po natin, tuloy-tuloy pa rin. Ang nakita po natin ay kasalukuyang ginagawa ang UH-1Huey sa Clark Airbase,” Canaya said.
The UH-Huey helicopters are aircraft units that are most widely used in military groups for transportation purposes.
“Maganda to dahil kabisado ng mga piloto ng airforce,” Canaya added.
The airforce unit is also set to receive another combat utility helicopter by the end of this year. This as they hope to get two C130 planes.
“But they are still subject to some sort of negotiations,” he clarified.
The military planes that will be given this year are refurbished, according to Canaya. The addition of these transportation aircrafts will be useful especially because of the geographical sketch of the Visayas and Mindanao islands.
Canaya explained that these two areas have many islands and islets, thus sea and land transportation is difficult and helicopters and other aircraft units are effective modes of transporting relief goods.
The official disclosed to the media that Lieutenant General Jeffrey Delgado, the commanding general of the Philippine Airforce, had established a disaster dispatch unit with engineering, medical and communications equipment.
“These are hard lessons that we learned after Yolanda,” he said.
Canaya said they are currently practicing on how to transport the equipment in order to respond immediately to disaster-stricken areas.