2024 USAF-PAF Ex. Opens at Basa

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

BASA AIR BASE, Pampanga – The air forces of the United States and the Philippines will be holding the Cope Thunder 2024-1 to be held on April 11 at the newly renovated runway here.

According to the public affairs office of the Philippines Air Force (PAF), the joint military exercises include field exertions focused on the basic fighter maneuver as well as simulated strike mission involving the PAF’s FA-50PH and the USAF’s F-16 combat jets.

FILE PHOTO: 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 (known too as Warthog or Tank Killer). PHOTO : Mortz C. Ortigoza

Media interviews with the representatives of the two allied air forces ensue after the exercises.

The entire Cope Thunder will start from and end in April 8 to 19.

The U.S. and Philippine are slated to conduct their first combat training exercise of the year this April amid the escalating tensions between Manila and Beijing in the South China Sea. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued a statement in which he reaffirmed the country’s commitment to countering “illegal, coercive, aggressive, and dangerous attacks” by the Chinese coast guard. The latest intimidation was in March 23 when Chinese personnel used water cannons to obstruct a Philippine resupply mission in the South China Sea that hurt naval personnel and destroyed some of the vessel’s parts and gadgets.

Cope Thunder was held for the first time in more than 30 years in 2023. It used to be held annually from Clark Air Base in the Philippines starting in the mid-1970s but was suspended following the 1991 volcanic eruption of Mount Pinatubo, which led to Clark’s closure. Last year, two iterations of Cope Thunder in May and June included U.S. F-16s and the superiority and stealth fighters’ F-22, and the PAF’s FA-50PHs, A-29s, and AS-211s at Basa and Clark air bases.

The latest aerial exercise between the two air forces was in February, when a U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber flew alongside three PAF’s FA-50 fighters during a patrol over the South China Sea within Manila’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). A pair of B-52 bombers from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana are currently deployed in Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, approximately 3,200 nautical miles from the Philippines, for Pacific Air Force missions.

The two countries also worked together to renovate the runway here to accommodate more and larger U.S. aircraft. Additionally, ongoing upgrades include the construction of a 625,000-square-foot transient parking apron, which will allow 20 U.S. aircraft to be deployed at the site. These projects are part of the the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between the two nations, funded by the Pentagon’s Pacific Deterrence Initiative’s budget.

Basa Air Base represents the biggest U.S. investment among the five EDCA sites of the Philippines, with $66 million (P3.7 billion) allocated to the base out of the initial total of $82 million (P4.6 billion). The base currently hosts the Philippines’ sole fighter squadron, consisting of the 12 South Korean made FA-50PH Fighting Eagles.