Two Platforms Already Support Counter-Terror Operations
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are likely to acquire an additional Cessna 208-series aircraft modified for ISR missions.
US DoD announced on 25 January that MAG Aerospace has been awarded a $19.8 million contract modification to integrate ISR equipment on C-208 aircraft, with an option for an additional aircraft. Work is due to be completed by September 2024 and the modification, which takes the cumulative face value of the contract to $23.9 million, is a “100% Foreign Military Sales to the Philippines,” according to the Pentagon.
It is unclear whether the optional platform will be for the Philippine Army or Air Force (PAF), though the latter has operated two ISR-capable Cessna 208B Grand Caravan platforms since July 2017. At the time of their delivery, the Pentagon stated the two aircraft were part of a $33 million package to provide equipment and training to improve Philippine counter-terrorism response capability. It also added the platforms would provide the AFP with “a technologically advanced ISR capability in support of counter-terrorism operations”, pointing out that this capability included line-of-sight live data and air-to-ground info streaming.
Around the same time Philippines Secretary of Defence, Delfin Lorenzana, was quoted as saying that the Cessna 208Bs would also give the country’s military “the capability to detect ships and other craft intruding into the country’s territorial waters”.
Gabriel Dominguez for MON
