U.S Sends Superior Fighter Jets to Hone PAF’s War Skills

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

I was grateful with my contact at the Philippines Information Agency when she gave me the phone number of a petite Philippines Air Force’s Sergeant Maiden P. Crusit.  Cruisit – a personnel of the Public Affairs Office - added me to the PAF-Media Friends’ Viber’s chat group. On July 15, she messaged the members about the 11 a.m to 3 p.m July 17 affair at the Haribon Hangar of Clark Air Base in Mabalacat City, Pampanga where aircraft joining the Cope Thunder 23.2 from Brig. Gen. Benito Ebuen Air Base in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu would be arriving there.

American and Filipino military pilots (top photo and clockwise) answer the questions of international and local print, broadcast and television reporters on the second Cope Thunder 2023 held in Clark Air Base in Pampanga last July 17. Another photo shows the author of this article raised his hand to pose his queries to the pilots about the nuances of the exercises. Third photo bares Filipino and American pilots in a huddle near one of the most superior all-weather tactical fighter combat jets of the Americans. The F-22 is a single-seat, twin-engine supersonic stealth aircraft. Six of them joined the Cope Thunder 23.2 military exercise with the Philippines Air Force in Clark Air Base and Brig. Gen. Benito Ebuen Air Base in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu. The Raptor photo is an internet grabbed.

SECOND COPE THUNDER 2023 OPENS

Before I delved on the event at the Haribon Hangar, recall that the second iteration of Cope Thunder 2023 was officially opened by the Philippines and United States Air Forces at Clark Air Base in Mabalacat City, Pampanga on July 7, 2023 and ended on July 21, 2023.

It was participated by the aircraft of the United States Air Force (USAF) like its C130 Hercules (3 of them), A-10 Warthog (6) and F22 Raptors (6) and 585 personnel. The aircraft of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) that joined there were C130 Hercules (1), HUEY II (1) A29B Super Tucano (2), T129 ATAK Helicopter (2), FA-50 (3) and 687 personnel.

MEDIA INTERVIEWS

My eldest son Jigger and I were eager to see the vaunted Lockheed Martin’s F-22 –the air superiority multiple role single seater twin-engine stealth fighter jet  - on that same day despite the heavy rains that barreled our wagon as it cruised the expressway from Rosales, Pangasinan with dispatch to Clark.

Philippines Air Force Major Rod Calma of the Public Affairs Office introduces to international and local reporters at the Haribon Hangar, Clark Air Base in Pampanga, Philippines (from L-to R) PAF Pilot Major Ronholp S. Ausa (FA-50), USAF Pilot Captain Liam Baldwin (A-10), PAF Pilot Major Virgilio K. Villanueva (C-130), USAF Pilot Capt. Cole Wise (C-130-J) and PAF Pilot Capt. Philip Vincent Roy R. Freire (FA-50).

During the media interviews held at the tarmac of Clark with USAF's pilot Captain Liam Baldwin (A-10) and Capt. Cole Wise (C-130-J  and PAF pilots Major Ronholp S. Ausa (FA-50), Major Virgilio K. Villanueva (C-130) and Capt. Philip Vincent Roy R. Freire (FA-50) - moderated by PAF Major Joseph Calma (PMA Class 2011 and an Airbus C295 transport plane pilot) –, I posed my question to the two Americans.

“Question to the American pilots! How did you find the expertise of our Filipino pilots compared to the U.S pilots flying the F-16, F-18, F-15 and others?”

Baldwin retorted: “We have the same mission. We trained for air support, strike formation, reconnaissance, air operation, maritime warfare. It’s all the same mission (inaudible) the same mission implementation like the same sights and sounds. Being here exercising in the Philippines with our partners have been super tight as what we actually know. Our combined objectives in the region to be free and the Indo-Pacific Region…"

GMA-7 TV Male Reporter: How did you find our pilots?!

Captain Baldwin: They’re awesome!

Reporters milling the interviewees chuckled.

This Writer: Awesome and handsome.

Capt. Baldwin: I’m sorry?

This Writer: Awesome and handsome!

Reporters milling the interviewees guffawed.

American and Filipino pilots returned in a drizzling July 17, 2023 to camp at Clark Air Base in Pampanga after their combat aerial exercises in  Brig. Gen. Benito Ebuen Air Base in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu in the second Cope Thunder. Background is the lethal U.S A-10 Thunderbold-II (knownd too as Warthog or Tank Killer). PHOTO : Mortz C. Ortigoza

I asked the Filipino pilots if the Korean Thales data link jibed with the data link of the U.S aircraft especially during a conflict with the enemy.

“To the FA-50 jet fighter pilots. FA-50 uses the South Korean data link. Does it jibe with the U.S aircraft’s data link?”

PAF Pilot Major Ronholp S. Ausa: "FA-50 currently uses the data link-16. It is a NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) standard data link and it is a common data link for U.S forces".

DATA LINK

The question was the result of my blog’s Criminal Liabilities on the P15.5B Warships I wrote several years ago when the Philippines bought one of the two brand new South Korean made 107 meters long diesel powered 25 knots’ Incheon-class frigates and when Hyundai Heavy Industry (HHI) reneged on the contract to install a Netherland’s Thales- Tactico’s combat management system (CMS). HHI later told the Philippine Navy that it preferred to install the South Korean made Hanwha Systems Naval Shield’s Combat Management System.

“The Korean “Link 16” is unproven and could be vulnerable to Chinese electronic attack,” one of the Naval experts on an online defense forum opined as excerpt of that news article that saw print too in our newspaper..

AIR INTERDICTION, MARITIME TARGET AND COMBAT MANUEVERS

Four USAF supersonic F-22 Raptors and subsonic four A-10 Thunderbolt –II (known too as the Warthog) and the four supersonic light attack and lead-in fighter trainer the South Korean made PAF FA-50 Golden Eagles had defensive counter-air (DCA) exercise in the Eastern Luzon skies in July 8, 2023.

The Filipino pilots came from the 7th Tactical Fighter Squadron “Bulldogs” of the 5th Fighter Wing of the PAF and their counterpart Yanks of the F-22 Raptor hailed from the Hawaiian Raptors Squadron, which is made up of the 19th Fighter Squadron of the Pacific Air Forces' (PACAF) 15th Wing and 199th Fighter Squadron of the Hawaii Air National Guard 154th Wing.

The U.S and the Philippines launched the air interdiction, maritime target (AIMT) and air combat maneuvers (ACM) at the Brig. Gen. Benito Ebuen Air Base in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu on July 12 to 15 where AIMT enhanced the pilots’ skills on tactical air-to-surface/ground operations against enemy objectives and ACM, also known as “dogfighting” enhanced the skills in air-to-air combat.

HOT REFUELLING

In July 13, the two countries launched the hot refueling operation at the General Santos City Airport where the aircraft engines ran throughout the process, allowing the aircraft to quickly return to its mission or flight. Known too as "Hotpit" operations, they are beneficial in time-sensitive situations where minimizing ground time is crucial.

SUCCESSFUL AIR CAMPAIGN IN THE MILITARY AVIATION HISTORY

I could not forget how the indispensability of “Hotpit thing” of the Israeli Air Force (IAF) almost decimated the entire air assets of an enemy with a superior numbers of aircraft.

Operation Focus was one of the most successful airstrikes in modern history. Photo credit: IDF

When Egypt closed the Port of Tiran in May 23, 1967, she stoked the casus belli that prompted Tel Aviv to look for ways how to attack her big time. 

The Israelis through the elements of surprise flew at 7:45 a.m of June 5 the first wave of its IAF combat jets through the Mediterranean Sea (the right side part of the front line of the Egyptians in Sinai) and flying 35-50 feet above sea level to avoid Egyptian radars’ cover and Soviet supplied SA-2 surface to air (SAM) missile batteries.

 The first attacked hit eleven bases, smoldering much of the Egyptian air force jets, planes and helicopters on the ground and destroying them before they got airborne. The IAF combat jets immediately returned to Israel for "quick-turned (refueled and re-armed)” - and probably what the Americans and the Filipinos dubbed as hot refueling or hot pit - in seven minutes thirty seconds and flew back for the second wave that attacked fourteen Egyptian bases and returned with only minor losses. They "quick-turned" again and departed in a third wave.

The opening stages of Operation Focus of the IAF – one of the most successful air campaigns in history – son of a gun saw Egypt's 452 combat destroyed in just a half day after that 7: 45 a.m smart sneaked in the Mediterranean Sea. Those burining and ruined precious assets were Soviet made Mig-17, Mig-19, Mig-21, Sukhoi Su-7, Tupolev Tu-16 'Badgers, Ilyushin Il-28 'Beagles, Ilyushin Il-14 'Crates, Antonov An-12 'Cubs, Mil Mi-6 'Hooks, Mil Mi-4 'Hounds, British manufactured Hawker Hunters and U.S made Douglas C-47 Sky trains. Most of them were destroyed on the ground because of that treacherous attacked from the Jews who used a French/Israeli made anti-runway rocket that created a small crate  over a large new sinkhole as initial salvo to prevent them to take off. The Israelis had minor losses like the French made Mirage IIIs, Dassault H MD 450s, Fouga CM-170 Magisters and Dassualt Super Mystere.

By the end of the first day of the Six-day War, Israel had complete air superiority over Egypt, the West Bank, Jordan, Golan Heights, Syria, and the entire Sinai Desert where its planes even massacred to death the retreating thousands of Egyptian Army on their trucks and tanks.

I first heard of that feat - when I was in elementary grade in the middle of 1970s in my war torn Cotabato town from my voracious reader air force-soldier father as the Six Days War (known too as Third Arab–Israeli War) – where the Israelis defeated the militaries of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Lebanon.

PAF DEFTNESS VS LOCAL AND FOREIGN AGGRESSORS

With the Hot Pit tactics and others taught by the Yanks to us, we hope our local air force pilots hone their skills to prepare for any eventuality against local and foreign aggressors.

I prayed that our government expedite the procurements of full pledged multiple fighter jets like the F-16 Vipers and other air assets so we have a modest defense of our country against any bad guys who want to impose their weights on the Pinoyland. 

READ MY OTHER BLOG/COLUMN:

U.S Military Rescue Operation: Things Filipinos Could Learn

MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

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I am a twenty years seasoned Op-Ed Political Writer in various newspapers and Blogger exposing government corruptions, public officials idiocy and hypocrisies, and analyzing local and international issues. I have a master’s degree in Public Administration and professional government eligibility. I taught for a decade Political Science and Economics in universities in Metro Manila and cities of Urdaneta, Pangasinan and Dagupan. Follow me on Twitter @totoMortz or email me at totomortz@yahoo.com.