Why the Philippines is still awaiting long-range patrol aircraft after a decade
The Philippines appears set to purchase two maritime patrol aircraft from Israel, perhaps based on IAI’s ELI-3360 MPA. (Photo: IAI)
Manila still has not obtained maritime patrol aircraft for the Philippine Air Force (PAF), even though it started a search for new platforms back in 2013. However, Department of National Defense (DND) documents from January reveal that a notice of award was issued on 14 November 2022, before being amended on 5 January.
Furthermore, initial funding under the special allotment release order had been approved in August 2022. However, this had to be revalidated since a contract had not yet been issued before the funding lapsed.
The blogsite MaxDefense Philippines claims that the winning contender is Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI)
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