By Thai Newsroom Reporters
THE PHILIPPINES MIGHT PROBABLY become the second Asian country after Thailand to buy Saab JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets to strengthen the island republic’s potential to meet China’s escalating threats, an air force source said today (Feb.24).
The Philippine and Swedish governments are speculated to reach a bilateral agreement as soon as next month which might probably lead to a purchase order for a squadron of JAS 39E Gripen jets as part of the Philippines’ Horizon 3 defence modernisation programme for which some US$35 billion in funding was approved by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. last month.
The upcoming agreement between Manila and Stockholm is largely inclined to prompt the Philippine air force and the aircraft manufacturing Saab to come to a negotiating table over a Gripen jet purchase sooner or later, the source said.
A JAS 39E jet, calculated to cost US$85 million and fitted with a General Electric F414G engine, has emerged as a choice for the Thai and Philippine air forces to take into account in rivalry with a Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70/72 Fighting Falcon jet.
A squadron of Gripen multirole fighters were purchased between 2008 and 2010 by the Thai air force as the only Asian customer so far in addition to those in other parts of the world including Czech, Hungary, Brazil, South Africa and Sweden.
Not only the Philippine air force but the Thai air force which currently deploys a dozen JAS 39C jets at Wing 7 in Surat Thani is reportedly inclined to choose between the Swedish-built jet and the US jet to replace a fleet of ageing fighters.
Given the unlikelihood for Bangkok’s planned purchase of Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters to be finally approved by Washington, the Thai air force is looking to buy either the F-16 Block 70/72 or Gripen jet.
That the Philippine air force currently deploys a dozen South Korean-built FA-50 Golden Eagle light attack jets plus a mini-squadron of US-built OV-10 Bronco and Brazilian-built Embraer EMB 314 light attack aircraft after decommissioning squadrons of Northrop F-5 Tiger fighters since the last two decades is ultimately viewed as inadequate to meet China’s maritime and airborne threats in the disputed South China Sea.
Joint naval and air patrols recently conducted in interoperability mode between the US, Japanese and Philippine forces have showcased the shared awareness of China’s mounting threats to the national security of several Asian countries in the West Pacific region.
For instance, Chinese navy ships and combat aircraft have not only shadowed those of the US allies during joint maritime and air exercises but intermittently engaged in provocations and standoffs with the Philippine naval vessels amidst sustained, mutually contradictory claims of territorial integrity over reefs and atolls in the South China Sea.
Most recent were reports of maritime provocation and intimidation perpetrated by Chinese warships toward the Philippine naval vessels off the fishery-abundant Scarborough Shoal over which both sides have laid mutually contradictory claims of territorial integrity.
CAPTION:
Top and Front Page: Saab JAS 39E Gripen fighter jets. Photos: Thai Rath
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