he government plans to procure a
spy plane from Indonesia and
a troop transport aircraft from Italy,
the Department of National Defense (DND) said yesterday.
Peter Paul Galvez, DND spokesman, said the long-range
maritime patrol and surveillance plane is manufactured in Indonesia under a joint venture agreement with Spain.
“On our shortlist is the Indonesian aircraft,” he said. “The
long-range patrol aircraft would be devoted solely to conducting maritime
surveillance.”
The DND is also scouting for a medium lift aircraft from
other European countries at a lower cost, Galvez said.
Once President Aquino approves the acquisition, the spy
plane would strengthen the country’s maritime domain awareness.
For a long time, the Armed Forces has been relying mainly on
a small number of Islander planes for maritime and territorial patrol.
The spy plane is the CASA/IPTN CN-235. The CN-235
surveillance aircraft can double as a military transport plane. Its largest
user is Turkey
with 61 aircraft.
The surveillance plane has a crew of two, a pilot and
co-pilot, and can carry 44 passengers and a payload of 13,120 pounds with a
cruising speed of 454 kilometers per hour and a range of 2,730 nautical miles.
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